'Avoid visiting Kashmir': Adhikari to Bengalis; BJP leader slams remarks

Triggering fresh political outrage, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal president and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, in a public gathering, asked people not to visit “Muslim-majority” areas of Jammu and Kashmir, citing Pahalgam terror attack that took place on April 22.

“Don’t go to Muslim-majority areas. If you want to visit Kashmir, go to Jammu. Otherwise, go to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, there are plenty of places. In Pahalgam, they asked tourists their religion before killing them,” he said.

His remarks came a day after Jammu and Kashmir chief minister met his counterpart, Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

The Opposition lashed out at Adhikari for purportedly spreading communal hatred among religious groups. Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Shashi Panja said, “This narrative sounds more like Pakistan or Bangladesh. You cannot dictate where people should travel. Is this just because Omar Abdullah visited Bengal?”

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) condemned Adhikari’s statement as “irresponsible and deeply shameful.”

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But the biggest opposition came within the BJP when the party’s national executive member and former president of J&K unit Ravinder Raina reminded Adhikari that numerous youths of Kashmir have sacrificed their lives for the country in the fight against terrorism over the past three decades.

“I would like to request Adhikari to come to Kashmir. He should come and see that every Kashmiri loves India. When the terrorists killed humanity in the meadows of Pahalgam on April 22, it was the people of Kashmir who reached the spot barefoot to rescue the injured tourists,” Raina said in a statement to PTI here.

“It was the people of Kashmir who sheltered the tourists and helped them reach their homes safely. Mohammad Maqbool Sherwani sacrificed his life in 1947 by hoisting the tricolour in Baramulla and gave the slogan ‘beware Pakistani attackers, we Kashmiris are ready’,” Raina said.

He said thousands of Kashmiri youths have sacrificed their lives for the security of the country, serving in various security agencies.

“There are so many Kashmiri activists (from the BJP) who achieved martyrdom fighting the terrorists. India lives in the heart of every citizen of Jammu and Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir is in the heart of India. Every Indian should come to Jammu and Kashmir,” Raina said, inviting Adhikari and the people of West Bengal to visit the valley to experience the “patriotism and nationalism of local residents”.

He said the people of J-K are true Indians. “This is our motherland and Kashmir is the crown of India. Every Kashmiri is our brother and they are our own.”

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