BJP dubs Army Chief-General Dyer comparison 'appalling'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday cornered scholar Partha Chatterjee for comparing Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat to British General Dyer, while saying that it was an 'abhorring and appalling' act.

"As far as the issue of Partha Chatterjee is concerned, it is really abhorring and appalling that Indian Army Chief is compared with General Dyer. Do these people not see the basic difference? One (General Dyer) was a killer who massacred innocent Indians and the other one (Indian Army) is savior of humanity," BJP spokesperson SambitPatra told ANI.

Meanwhile, BJP leader G. V. L. Narsihma Rao said Chatterjee was trying to gain publicity by indulging in such acts.

"There are many who are ganging up with foreigners and stabbing in the back of India. They are trying to give bad name to the Indian Armed Forces. This exposes their lack of commitment towards their country," Rao told ANI.

The Bengali scholar recently drew flak for his article where he compared 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 publicit," 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.