Kashmiri Stone-pelters are my people, can’t demonize them, says IPS officer Basant Rath
New Delhi – IPS officer Basant Kumar Rath said on Thursday that stone-pelters of Kashmir are his people and he cannot disown them. He also said that Indian media have failed to understand the Kashmir issue.
“Kashmiri people are my people.. can’t demonize them. People by nature are people. They have emotions and feelings, you have to treat them well,” the IPS officer said while addressing a gathering at India Today Mind Rocks.
He cited the example of his own family and said that he never liked his father’s authoritative attitude, but this “doesn’t mean I am not his son.”
“Kashmir has a history, we have to respect the sentiments and the people there. There is a gap between the politicians speeches and bureaucrats’ work on the ground,” he said.
“Just because somebody doesn’t agree with you [the government], you can’t demonize them,” he added.
While speaking about religion, he said, “Religion is not important for the people but for the politicians.”
Mr. Rath comes from Odisha and an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the 2000-batch IPS officer, he is best known for his straightforwardness on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
His strict attitude in profession and dauntlessness has won many hearts on Twitter and Facebook.
