Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Lal Singh Chaudhary, who had once called Bharatiya Janata Party leaders “imposters” and “thieves of highest order” before joining the party in 2014, has been making controversial statements of late to evoke negative sentiments amongst the people of Jammu against Kashmiri Muslims. Even losing his ministry after participating in a rally to support one of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case did not push him to mend his communal ways.
On Saturday, Chaudhary took his divisive ways to another level by warning Kashmiri journalists to learn lessons from the assassination of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari. In a veiled threat, he warned that those who do not learn from Bukhari’s murder could meet the same fate.
“What is wrong with what I said?” Chaudhary asked. “There is a section of press in Kashmir that has been glorifying militants. Whenever a militant is killed, they write that he was going to college, studying in some university, was so much educated, etc. They hold India responsible for him becoming a terrorist. How is India responsible? They (Kashmiri journalists) glorify militants and their lives. How can we tolerate that.”
The 59-year-old was a minister in the Congress-Peoples Democratic Party coalition government in 2002-2008. Even then, he would often use abusive language against BJP leaders. A three-minute video in which he can be seen using obscene words against BJP leaders and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi names went viral two years ago. The Dogra leader left the Congress after the party denied him a ticket in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“I was trying to advise them to look at the situation and the violent attacks on journalists in Kashmir,” he said. “Those who glorify terrorists are killed. Those who support terrorists should understand that they (militants) killed the journalist (Shujaat Bukhari). They need to draw a line. You cannot glorify terrorists and anti-nationals.”
In a strong criticism, the Editors Guild of India on Monday condemned Chaudhary’s threat to journalists in Kashmir and demanded that governor NN Vohra take action against the BJP lawmaker. However, this would need the consent of Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Nirmal Singh, who is a member of the saffron party. The Kashmir Editors Guild had also demanded that the governor take action against Chaudhary, but its appeal fell on deaf ears.
“Such a warning not only betrays Chaudhary’s deep disregard for the role of a free press in a democracy, it also encourages physical attacks on journalists in the sensitive state and elsewhere in the country,” a spokesperson for the Editors Guild of India said in a statement, demanding that the governor take note of the “incitement to violence against journalists” and initiate necessary action against Chaudhary.
