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Suvendu Adhikari's call for avoiding Muslim-majority areas stokes row in West Bengal
Suvendu Adhikari made the remarks after CM Mamata Banerjee urged people to visit Jammu and Kashmir after meeting her union territory counterpart, Omar Abdullah.
West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's suggestion to not visit areas where the Muslim community is in majority has sparked a controversy, inviting backlash from the Trinamool Congress, which on Friday criticised the remark, calling it a "calculated act of communal provocation".
Adhikari made the remarks after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to visit Jammu and Kashmir after meeting counterpart Omar Abdullah. Banerjee made a push to revive tourism in Jammu and Kashmir, which has fallen since the deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam that took 26 lives on April 22.
Adhikari brought up the Pahalgam attack and said that people shouldn't visit the UT or other Muslim majority areas, as people were killed after asking about their religion.
"Don't go to the places where Muslims are in majority. If you want to go to Kashmir, go to Jammu. Don't go... They (terrorists) killed people asking their religion. If you want to go, go to Himachal, we have Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, go to Odisha, whole country. I want to tell Bengali people don't go to the places where Muslims are in majority. Give priority to your life (Jaan pehle). Save your children, sister, mother," ANI quoted Adhikari as having said.
TMC's ‘communal remarks’ charge
The West Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari is now facing political backlash from the ruling TMC, which has termed his statement a "disgraceful, calculated act of communal provocation."
The party wrote in a post on the social media platform X that the BJP leader is handing the terrorists who perpetrated the Pahalgam attack exactly what they wanted. TMC also called Adhikari’s remarks a ‘calculated communal provocation’.
"Yesterday, Smt. @MamataOfficial met CM @OmarAbdullah and urged people to visit Jammu & Kashmir. But @BJP4India leaders like @SuvenduWB are openly discouraging people from visiting J&K. The terrorists attacked Pahalgam to paralyse Kashmir's economy, and Suvendu is handing them exactly what they wanted. It is a disgraceful, calculated act of communal provocation,” the post read.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party pointed out recent statements by BJP leaders calling for the removal of ‘secular’ from the preamble of the Indian constitution.
“This is the very same BJP that wants 'secular' erased from the Constitution. Such statements have no place in a democratic country. We will not let BJP burn bridges between Indians. Not in Kashmir. Not in Bengal. Not anywhere," the post added.
