Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 27 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader CR Kesavan on Sunday sharply criticised Karnataka Excise Minister and Congress leader RB Thimmapur for his controversial remarks regarding the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Recently, while speaking with mediapersons in Karnataka's Bagalkot, Thimmapur, said, 'I personally don't think the assailants would have asked the name and religion of the tourists...It is not just to add religious colour to cover up an intelligence failure.' Thimmapur had stated that the terrorists wouldn't have inquired about the religion or names of the victims, suggesting that blaming religion for the attack was unfair.

Kesavan slammed the Karnataka minister for these comments, calling them disrespectful to the victims and their families.

'The wicked and barbaric remarks of Congress Karnataka Minister Thimmapur have insulted the integrity of the mourning families and humiliated the courageous sacrifices of our victims who were killed in the Pakistan-backed Islamic terror attack in Pahalgam. Even in this hour of national grief, the communal Congress party, which has completely forsaken and mortgaged its conscience and soul to bigoted vote bank politics of religious appeasement, is fiddling with the politics of polarisation and division,' Kesavan said.

He accused Thimmapur of insulting the grieving families and disrespecting the sacrifices of the victims, who were killed in a terror attack. Kesavan also condemned the Congress Party for using this tragic moment to play politics and divide people along communal lines.

He further added, 'Congress Minister Thimmapur shamefully said that these terrorists would not have asked the name and religion of the victims, and he went on to say in the most atrocious way that it is unfair to target religion. It is very clear from the heart-wrenching stories of the families of the victims who were present when their loved ones were asked whether they were Hindu, and when they proudly said yes, they were shot before their eyes and died. And today, the statements Thimmapur, the Congress leader, has made pretty much imply that these families and the witnesses to these murders are lying. Is that what the Congress leadership is saying? Are they saying that these helpless victims' families, who witnessed the murders, are lying? Shame on the Congress Party for playing politics at this juncture.'

'It is high time Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, and Rahul Gandhi, who is going around saying that they will stand by the centre in whatever action we take, are they playing a double game? Are they trying to do the politics of hit-and-run and shoot-and-scoot, where one set of Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah and this minister, are giving a clean chit to Pakistan, and the other side, Rahul Gandhi, is trying to play the good cop? The people of the country will not forgive the double game and the communal politics the Congress Party is playing. The Congress leadership, if they differ from Timmapur, cannot just disown or distance themselves from these atrocious remarks. They immediately have to dismiss Timmapur as a minister in the Karnataka government and take action against him for insulting our victims and humiliating the integrity of the families of these victims,' Kesavan further said.

He called on the Congress leadership to immediately dismiss Thimmapur from his position as a minister for his disrespectful comments and to apologise for insulting the victims and their families.

Kesavan further alleged that the Congress Party was playing a 'double game,' with some leaders like Siddaramaiah giving a clean chit to Pakistan, while others, like Rahul Gandhi, claimed to support the government's actions.

On April 22, terrorists attacked tourists at the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, killing 26 people and leaving many others injured. (ANI)