New Delhi: Veteran actor and parliamentarian Paresh Rawal has attracted flak on Twitter for saying the army should “tie” author Arundhati Roy to an army jeep instead of tying a “stone pelter”.
“Instead of tying a stone pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy,” Rawal tweeted on Sunday night.
Some of the Twitter users termed Rawal’s tweet as “offensive” and “incited violence”.
Hitting out at the actor-BJP MP, Congress General Secretary Digivijaya Singh said: “Why not (tie) the person who stitched the PDP-BJP alliance?”
In a sarcasm-laced tweet, author Rana Ayyub said: “And you want to call him just a fringe? He’s a high profile actor, an MP from Gujarat, and a Padma Shri. God bless his constituency.”
“Btw (By the way) I don’t agree with a lot that Arundhati says or does. But disagree more with violence. Your physical threats lose you all moral debates,” wrote author and comedian Sorabh Pant.
Rawal is a Member of Parliament from Ahmedabad East constituency.
Another Twitter user, Ziya Us Salam said Rawal’s comment about a woman were shameful.
“@SirPareshRawal Your acting was often commendable but your prejudiced mindset is condemnable. Telling the army to hide behind a brave woman is shameful,” he tweeted.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt whose Congress leaning is known to one and all, tweeted in support of Arundhati: “If Arundhati has to be tied on the army jeep, I would love to be tied in front of her, as I agree with most things she has said on Kashmir.”
Rawal’s comment comes after an army officer tied a Kashmiri youth to the front of an army jeep as a human shield to avoid stone pelting during an army patrol in Budgam district on an election day in April. The incident received widespread condemnation.