Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday raised the question whether, if his state Assembly passed a resolution seeking mercy for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on the lines of the Tamil Nadu Assembly
one relating to those on death row for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, it would also generate a “muted” reaction. This comment immediately came under sharp attack from the BJP, which called it “unfortunate”.
“If J&K Assembly had passed a resolution similar to the Tamil Nadu one for Afzal Guru, would the reaction have been as muted? I think not,” Mr Abdullah asked on the social networking site Twitter.
“Omar’s remarks are unfortunate. Had the Hurriyat leaders made such a comment, it would have been understandable. A responsible CM should not have made such comments,” BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said in New Delhi.
The Congress chose to distance itself.
“What the CM comments on Twitter is his business. It’s really not for us to take cognisance of... In a democracy, it’s perfectly okay for people to voice their opinions collectively or individually. I don’t think we should speculate,” said Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary.
— PTI