'Have time to watch ‘Kashmir Files’ but…': Bhupesh Baghel's attacks BJP on J&K killings

On Thursday, 26-year-old bank employee from Rajasthan, Vijay Kumar, was shot dead at his office in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district. Hours later, two migrant labourers from Bihar and Punjab were shot at in the same region. The labourer from Bihar succumbed to his injuries later.

Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Friday slammed the Narendra Modi government over the targeted killings in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS leaders had time to watch ‘The Kashmir Files’ (a film based on the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s)," but now they are “silent” when Hindus are being killed in the Union territory.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. (HT File Photo)(HT_PRINT)

Speaking to reporters in Raipur, Baghel said that the BJP claimed the abrogation of Article 370 and revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir would “normalise” everything in the region. “But today, Kashmiri Pandits are being killed, Hindus are being killed; who will take responsibility? Why can't the government provide security?” the chief minister was quoted as saying by ANI.

He further said that if the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration cannot provide security to official employees, they cannot keep the general public safe.

Baghel said that the important issue in this matter is that the strategy of the BJP-RSS on Jammu and Kashmir “has completely failed”. The chief minister further asked who was responsible for the killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus in Kashmir, and what the government has been doing to make sure they are “protected” in the Valley.

Baghel's statements come a day after 26-year-old bank employee from Rajasthan named Vijay Kumar was shot dead at his office in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. Hours later, two non-local labourers, hailing from Bihar and Punjab, were shot at in the same district. While Dilkhush Kumar, a resident of Bihar's Arnia succumbed to his injuries later, Rajan from Punjab, is receiving treatment at a hospital.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)