Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has come out in support of Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal who sparked controversy with his tweet saying that the Army should “tie” author Arundhati Roy to an army jeep instead of tying a “stone pelter”.
Backing the actor, Swamy said that the stone pelters would love to hit a woman who “is not loyal to her own country”.
“When you tie the leader of the pro-Pakistan movement, then the stone-pelters will give you a safe passage because they don't want to throw stones on their leaders and injure them. But if you put Arundhati, then they will not care. They think that if the woman is not loyal to her own country then how she can be loyal with us. They will therefore enjoy throwing stones at her,” said Swamy.
He added that the BJP was not interested in stone-pelting at her.
“We are a modern democracy and we will definitely act according to the rule of law,” he said.
Earlier, Rawal raked up a Twitter storm when he took to the micro-blogging site to post a seemingly out-of-context tweet that conveyed the idea of 'tying' Roy to an Army jeep, drawing reference from a similar incident when a Kashmiri resident was tied to a jeep last month.
"Instead of tying stone pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy!", the Lok Sabha member tweeted on late Sunday night.
Rawal's tweet drew ire on the social media and people outrightly condemned the actor's "education." Many of them even highlighted the irony of his statement vis-a-vis his powerful performances in the movies.
One of the Twitter users wrote, "This tweet proves that lack of education ruins the ability of a Human to behave like a Human," while another tweeted, "Your acting was often commendable but your prejudiced mindset is condemnable. Telling d army to hide behind a brave woman is shameful."
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh also commented on the tweet.
Digvijaya wrote, "Why not the person who stitched PDP/BJP alliance?"
An award-winning writer, Arundhati Roy is known for her controversial views on Kashmir. She has also widely criticised the Army's role in the Valley.
In April, a Kashmiri resident, allegedly a stone-pelter, was tied to an Army jeep as a human shield. This incident sparked an outrage in the Valley and across the country, following which an inquiry was launched into the incident.
