BJP West Bengal president and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has sparked a political firestorm after urging Bengalis not to visit “Muslim-majority” areas of Jammu and Kashmir, citing the recent killing of tourists in Pahalgam.
“Don’t go to Muslim-majority areas,” Adhikari said at a public interaction on Friday. “If you want to visit Kashmir, go to Jammu. Otherwise, go to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha—there are plenty of places. In Pahalgam, they asked tourists their religion before killing them.”
His remarks came just a day after Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Banerjee had called for continued tourism in Kashmir and asserted that ensuring tourist safety was the Centre’s responsibility.
The Trinamool Congress hit back sharply, accusing Adhikari of spreading communal fear. “By discouraging Bengalis from visiting Kashmir, Suvendu has effectively amplified the fear that terrorists seek to spread,” the party said in a statement. “Is this the official BJP position? Does PM Modi, Amit Shah, or S. Jaishankar endorse this hate?”
TMC minister Shashi Panja added, “This narrative sounds more like Pakistan or Bangladesh. You cannot dictate where people should travel. Is this just because Omar Abdullah visited Bengal?”
Adhikari defended his remarks, claiming he had met the families of Bengali tourists killed in Kashmir and questioned why Abdullah didn’t. He also repeated his long-held belief that BJP’s minority outreach was futile, having previously called for the party to dissolve its minority morchas.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) condemned Adhikari’s statement as “irresponsible and deeply shameful.”
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com. Read the full story here.