Bhubaneswar: Christians are "butchered" in Pakistan, not in Odisha, snapped Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra on Wednesday at Pak Army spokesman Asif Ghafoor over his dubious "Merry Christmas" greeting to the community members in Odisha "under a Hindutva-obsessed environment".
On Christmas day, Ghafoor took to Twitter and wrote, "Very Merry Christmas to Christians in Pakistan, across the globe and especially to the ones in the states of Odisha and alike under the Hindutva obsessed environment."
While the post drew flak from different corners, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan strongly criticised by taking a dig at Ghafoor on the same platform. "So says a man sitting at the epicentre of genocide against religious and ideological minorities," Pradhan said in response to Ghafoor's sarcastic greetings to Christians in Odisha.
On the other hand, Sasmit Patra, a Rajya Sabha member and himself a Christian, told Asif Ghafoor, "Christians in Odisha are safe, strong and empowered. Not butchered as in Pakistan!"
The BJD MP did not only rebuke Ghafoor but also showed him a mirror reflecting Christians' well-being and rise in Odisha and India, by citing a personal example.
Patra posted a video on Twitter with a message- Please hear a Christian MP from Odisha slamming Pakistan's anti-minority barbarism before 170 countries this year at 141st Inter-Parliamentary Union, Belgrade. Patra in his speech at the IPU, Belgrade, had come down heavily on Pakistan for its anti-minority policies to persecute them on religious grounds.
"It is shameful and derogatory, condemnable the kind of action Pakistan has been taking over the years. The minorities in Pakistan are fleeing Pakistan because Pakistan is perpetrating crimes on them. Can Pakistan confirm that it is home to 130 UN-designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed in UN? Is this the agenda of Pakistan?," Patra is heard telling the IPU in his video footage, which he tagged in Tweeter handle for Ghafoor to have a look.
"I am extremely sorry to say we did not want to bring it to the floor, but today the kind of hatred Pakistan has tried to show and the blatant lies it has perpetrated through the IPU and misused the platform, it is shameful. We denounce it, we condemn such lies," Patra said in his speech.
[With Agency Inputs]