New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday criticised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his tweet linking the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution on the three men on the death row for the Rajiv Gandhi killing to parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The Congress declined to comment on Omar’s remarks while the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) hoped that the judicial verdict on the convicts will settle such controversies.
BJP spokesman Shanawaz Hussain said Omar Abdullah’s remarks on Twitter were unfortunate.
‘Had some Hurriyat leaders made such comment, it would have been understandable. A responsible CM should not have made such comments,’ Hussain said.
BJP member Balbir Punj dubbed Omar’s remarks ‘shocking, irresponsible and unfortunate’.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the death sentence given to the three men in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi should be carried out.
‘If in the process of law, the Supreme Court confirms capital punishment…and the clemency petition is rejected, that capital punishment must be executed,’ Prasad said.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi declined to comment on the issue.
‘We have clarified a number of times that the cases of death penalty involve a constitutional process, a legal process and an administrative process,’ Singhvi said.
‘It has been going on and will go on. There is no question of commenting,’ Singhvi added. The party would not comment on another leader’s remarks, he stressed.
CPI-M leader Sitraram Yechury said the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution ‘reflected general opinion among people’ but hoped that the court order will end the controversy.
‘What Jammu and Kashmir chief minister has said is also an issue. But the matter (of convicts) anyway is before judiciary. Hope the adjudication will be such that it will settle all such problems,’ he said.
Omar Abdullah, in a comment on microblogging site Twitter, said: ‘If J&K assembly had passed a resolution similar to the Tamil Nadu one for Afzal Guru would the reaction have been as muted? I think not.’
Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, has been convicted in the 2001 terrorist attack on parliament and sentenced to death.
Omar was commenting on a unanimous resolution of the Tamil Nadu assembly, recommending commutation of the death sentence of the three convicts.
The Madras High Court Tuesday stayed their hanging for eight weeks.
Hearing the petitions filed by Murugan alias Sriharan, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan alias Arivu that their death sentence be commuted, the high court ordered an interim stay on the hanging pending disposal of the case.
The three were scheduled to be hanged Sep 9.
