Rawal’s reaction to Roy’s ‘fake’ Kashmir remarks divides Twitter

Actor-politician Paresh Rawal on Sunday called for author Arundhati Roy to be tied to a front of an army jeep in Kashmir, a veiled reference to last month’s incident involving an Indian Army officer using a Kashmiri “stone-pelter” as human shield.

Rawal, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Ahmedabad, was reacting to Roy’s controversial comments during her recent visit to Kashmir, where she had called “Indian aggression in Kashmir” as shameful.

Rawal’s comments soon mothballed into a massive Twitter debate as lines were quickly drawn between those who supported Rawal’s remark and, others who opposed it.

Journalist Sagarika Ghose also found herself in Rawal’s firing line, after one of the actor’s supporters joked if she could be tied to the front of a jeep too.

To which, Rawal said,

Ghose, however, retaliated to the purported insult:

The debate was, however, heavily skewed in favour of Rawal, with many Twitter users seen as backing his remark.

Roy, nevertheless, found support among a section of Twitter users, some of whom accused him of being “violent” with his choice of words.

Other Twitter users took a more nuanced stance toward the whole debate.

Major Nitin Gogoi, the Indian Army officer who had used the stone-pelter as human shield, is currently facing an internal enquiry for the incident. Though some have condemned his actions, he has found support from across the political spectrum.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh wrote in an article, published in The Indian Express, last week, “Tough situations warrant tough reactions, and dangerous situations often, if not always, merit daring actions.”

(Corrigendum: As reported by The Wire on May 23rd, the article that triggered Paresh Rawal’s outrage turned out to be fake. Arundhati Roy was quoted as saying that she hadn’t made any comments on Kashmir at all. Soon after The Wire reported the story, Paresh Rawal deleted his tweet slamming the author, the one that stirred the whole controversy. The error is regretted. The correction was made at 16:00 hours on May 24, 2017 )