Army Chief- General Dyer row: Centre slams Bengali scholar for 'atrocious' comparison

Slamming Bengali scholar Partha Chatterjee for comparing the human shield controversy with the Jallianwala Bagh barbarism of General Dyer, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on 6 June asserted that drawing such parallels is simply 'atrocious'.

Speaking at the press conference here, Naidu said, "Chatterjee is only trying to find fault in the Indian Army which is doing a great job to protect the unity, integrity and security of the country. They only want to condemn the army but never want to come in support of it. Comparing Major Gogoi's incident and then General Rawat's observation to General Dyer is total atrocious and height of perversion".

Further lashing out at the scholar, the Union Minister said people like Chatterjee can only ridicule and not do anything.

"These people have sympathy for the stone pelters but don't have sympathy for the ones who leave their family and serve the country," Naidu added.

However, despite facing flak for his article, Chatterjee stated that he stands firm with his comparison of General Rawat with Dyer who was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar.

"I have made my arguments as clearly and precisely as I could in my article. If I need to clarify or change anything then I will write again. I stand by what I wrote. I am not seeking any publicity," Chatterjee told ANI.

Chatterjee in his article wrote that Kashmir is witnessing its ' General Dyer' moment.

This article by Chatterjee came after General Rawat extended support for Major Leetul Gogoi over the human shield controversy in Kashmir.

"There are chilling similarities between the justifications advanced for the actions of the British Indian army in Punjab in 1919 and those being offered today in defence of the acts of the Indian army in Kashmir," Chatterjee wrote in his article.

The Army Chief had come to the rescue of Major Gogoi over the human shield issue and said such 'innovative' ways are required to counter the dirty war underway in Kashmir.

Major Gogoi was in the spotlight after a video shot during the April 9 Srinagar Lok Sabha by-polls, posted on the social media, showed a man tied on the bonnet of an Army jeep in Jammu and Kashmir's Badgam.

The video went viral and sparked a major controversy, with one faction condemning the Army's action while the other commended their ingenuity.

-ANI