Appealing to political parties to desist from dividing communities, the Chief Minister spoke candidly about the recent communal violence in Kishtwar area of his state and in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Omar told the National Integration Council (NIC) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the riots in Kishtwar were unfortunate although the area had been free from communal trouble for the last four years.
The Chief Minister referred to last week's visit by the Prime Minister to riot-hit Muzaffarnagar which was described by BJP as "secular tourism" and said political parties should be "a little less hypocritical".
In an apparent reference to an attempt by BJP leader Arun Jaitley to travel to Kishtwar during communal violence there in the second week of August this year, Omar said if the Prime Minister's visit has been called as "secular tourism", should the thwarted attempt to travel to Kishtwar be dubbed "communal tourism". "This sort of language doesn't help," he said.
Shinde responded that this would be kept in mind and rectified in the future.