Hanuman Chalisa, loudspeaker rows won’t resolve…: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Kashmiri Pandit’s killing

New Delhi: A day after a Kashmiri Pandit government employee was killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday (May 13) said reciting Hanuman Chalisa or switching off loudspeakers will not tackle the “atmosphere of instability” in the Valley, ANI reported. Talking to reporters in Maharashtra’s Mumbai, the Shiv Sena MP said, "Don’t raise fingers at Pakistan time and again, what are we doing for the Kashmiri Pandits? Even after the revocation of Article 370, they are not safe and are not able to return to the Valley. Now the common people are not safe, it has no more remained limited to the Pandits.” 

Raut said rows over Hanuman Chalisa or loudspeakers atop mosques will not resolve the issues of the Kashmiri Pandits. "The atmosphere of instability that has been created in Kashmir once again will have to be finished by taking harsh decisions. Issues like Hanuman Chalisa and loudspeakers will solve the issue of neither Kashmiri pandits nor Kashmir," the Shiv Sena leader added. 

Further, the Rajya Sabha MP said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are "emotional on the issue of Kashmiri pandits", urging the Union Home Minister to think about their killings "very seriously".

"The Kashmiri Pandit was a government employee. It is happening time and again. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are very emotional about Kashmiri pandits. There were talks about their return to the Valley. Don`t know how many of them returned in seven years. But the ones who were already there are not being allowed to live and they are being killed. The Home Minister needs to think about it very seriously. The killing of the young Kashmiri Pandit is painful," he said.

On Thursday, a government employee identified as Rahul Bhat, who belonged to the Kashmir Pandit community, was shot dead at his office in Chadoora area of Budgam district in central Kashmir. 

Earlier today, his last rites were performed at Bantalab. ADGP Jammu Mukesh Singh, Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar, and Deputy Commissioner Avny Lavasa were present at the cremation ground for Bhat’s last rites. 

(With agency inputs)