In the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike, Meghalaya Governor Tathagatha Roy called for the boycott of Kashmir and Kashmiri products. He tweeted: "An appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army: Don’t visit Kashmir, don’t go to Amarnath for the next 2 years. Don’t buy articles from Kashmir emporia or Kashmiri tradesman who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri. I am inclined to agree."
The tweet comes at a time when there are reports of Kashmiris being harassed across the country. A Kashmiri student from Jamia Millia Islamia, who did not wish to be identified, told PTI, "Just the fact that one is a Kashmiri, irrespective of his ideology or leanings, is enough to put one's life to risk. It is happening across the country. Kashmiri students are being harassed and hounded, be it Dehradun, Ambala or Bangalore. We really fear for our security here too."
JNU activist Shehla Rashid, who hails from Kashmir, said, "Throughout India, mobs are attacking Kashmiri students, verbally abusing them, asking for them to be expelled and filing false cases against them. The pretext being given in each case is that they said Pakistan Zindabad and even police is buying into these false claims."
Roy, who identifies himself as a right wing socio-political thinker and writer, has made such controversial statements before. In 2018, when the newly elected BJP government in Tripura pulled down a statue of Lenin, he tweeted, according to Economic Times: “What one democratically-elected government can do, another democratically-elected government can undo. And vice versa.”
After a backlash against the statement, Roy tweeted, "Vociferously violent reactions from media and several others to my ECHOING OF a suggestion from a retired army colonel. A purely NON-VIOLENT REACTION to the killing of our soldiers by the hundreds and the driving out of 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits."
