SHILLONG: The Opposition Congress boycotted the address of Governor Tathagata Roy on the opening day of the budget session in the Assembly on Friday for his adverse comment on rejecting “everything Kashmiri”.The governor’s tweet was in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack on CRPF jawans. However, after his address, Roy told media persons that he had nothing more to say in response to a question whether he regrets his tweet that triggered the action of the Opposition.”Whatever said is said, I have nothing more to say,” the Governor said before leaving the Assembly premises for Raj Bhavan.To a query on the boycott of his address by the Opposition, Roy said, “What can I say.”In his address, the governor condemned the terror attack on CRPF jawans. “My government expresses its concern about the attack on the CRPF jawans at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, and condemns such act of violence. We express our deepest condolences to the family members of the deceased jawans,” Roy said. Earlier, five minutes before the session, which was to start at 10 am, Opposition Leader Mukul Sangma along with CLP members spoke to the media on the Assembly premises and announced their decision to boycott the governor’s address.The Congress MLAs also did not take part in the customary photo session with the governor. Sangma wanted removal of the governor and asked the Prime Minister to take action against him.”The tweet on February 19 that all Kashmiri goods should be boycotted and people should not visit Kashmir does not augur well for the nation as it is coming from a person who is holding a constitutional post,” Sangma said. According to Sangma, the Prime Minister should have immediately pulled up the governor and removed him from the post since the stand of the Prime Minister is that the country is only after terrorists. Expressing anguish over Roy’s tweet, Sangma wanted to know whether the governor would blame the North East and its people in case of a terror attack in the region. “How can a person not less than the governor engage in this kind of message which is (Contd on P-9) More Assembly reports on P-7
Cong boycotts Governor…(Contd from P-1) capable of creating rift among the various communities and we saw that immediately after the terror attack, there were a lot of lynching cases and the tweet was posted at that point of time,” Sangma said. The CLP leader said the nation’s fight is against terrorists and not against any particular community or people.”If such type of terror attacks take place in the North East, will he tell the country to boycott North East and the people of the region? These are the kind of people who are dividing the nation and providing fodder to anti-national forces,” he added.The governor in his tweet had endorsed an appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army, which had said, “Don’t visit Kashmir, don’t go to Amarnath for the next two years. Don’t buy articles from Kashmir emporia or Kashmir tradesmen who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri.” Later, he defended the tweet by saying it was a “non-violent” response to Pulwama attack.
