On Tuesday (10th September), former UPA Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde revealed that he was “scared” when he visited Srinagar’s Lal Chowk despite being the country’s Home Minister. The senior Congress leader noted that while the public lauded the Home Minister for not being fearful, he couldn’t tell anyone that he was scared in Lal Chowk.
Notably, he made these remarks during the launch of his memoir ‘Five Decades in Politics’. Recalling his 2012 visit to the Kashmir valley, Shinde said, “Before I became the Home Minister, I visited him (educationist Vijay Dhar). I used to ask him for advice. He advised me to not roam around but to visit Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), meet people and go around Dal Lake.”
At the launch of his memoir 'Five Decades of Politics', Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde says…
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 10, 2024
"Before I became the Home Minister, I visited educationist Vijay Dhar. I used to ask him for advice. He advised me to not roam around but to visit Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), meet… pic.twitter.com/eaw3aqdbaV
He added, “That advice gave me publicity and people thought that here is a Home Minister who goes there without any fear, lekin meri fat’ti thi wo kisko bataoon? (but who do I tell that I was scared?) I told you this just to make you laugh, but an ex-Policeman can’t speak like this.”
#WATCH | Delhi: At the launch of his memoir 'Five Decades of Politics', Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde says, "Before I became the Home Minister, I visited him (educationist Vijay Dhar). I used to ask him for advice. He advised me to not roam around but to visit Lal Chowk (in… pic.twitter.com/MJ4QhrKbwa
— ANI (@ANI) September 10, 2024
While he claimed that he made the statement just to make people laugh, the Former UPA Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde inadvertently admitted that during the Congress-led UPA era, the fear of terrorism in the valley was such that even the country’s Home Minister was scared of visiting Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. Strikingly, up until recently under the Modi government, Lal Chowk was said to be the stronghold of separatist leaders like Yasin Malik and Pakistan-sponsored terrorists with open displays of Nationalist, Pro-India sentiments including waving the National flag attracting terror threats.
It is pertinent to note that Sushil Kumar Shinde was appointed as India’s Home minister by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2012. He had succeeded P Chidambaram as the Union Home Minister. During his Kashmir visit, the Congress leader also did shopping at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. Back then, he was accompanied by erstwhile J&K state’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Sharing his remarks, the Bharatiya Janata Party took a dig at the Congress party and contrasted the developments in the Kashmir valley under the UPA era vis-a-vis Modi government. According to them, while even the Union Home Minister was scared to visit Lal Chowk in the Congress era, conditions improved so much under the Modi government that Rahul Gandhi smoothly did the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir.
UPA era Home Minister Sushil Shinde admits he was scared of going to J&K
— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) September 10, 2024
“They told me to go Kashmir and do Photo-op at Dal lake for me and UPA's Public image as Home Minister of India. But I was scared"
Today Rahul Gandhi was comfortably seen doing Bharat Jodo Yatra & snow… pic.twitter.com/ly4Nx1bLQQ
Several netizens also slammed the Congress party for its stance on terrorism. Some lambasted the Congress leader pointing out that he was reportedly the one who coined the saffron terror term.
When I was the Home Minister of India, I was scared of visiting Lal Chowk, J&K (he said meri fat-ti thi) – Sushilkumar Shinde
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) September 10, 2024
This was the condition of J&K during Congress era. Now some people including some RW mocks Modi gvt over their J&K Policy while roaming around the same… pic.twitter.com/xz7UXSfsNy
Did UPA deal with the Islamist threat in J&K from a position of fear and weakness? Was UPA hesitant to take tough calls like abrogation of Article 370 because it feared Islamist backlash? Did UPA not have confidence in Bharat's brave forces to defeat terrorism?
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) September 10, 2024
Shockingly, UPA… pic.twitter.com/UqcoP5NrSX
Walking around Lal Chowk and Dal Lake in Article 370 era Srinagar “gave me publicity and people thought that here is a Home Minister who goes there without any fear, lekin meri fat'ti thi wo kisko bataoon? (But whom could I tell that I was scared s@*&less?)”
— Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) September 10, 2024
Here’s Congress-led… pic.twitter.com/xt5sTCpc6i
Under Congress rule, even their own Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde admitted to fearing Kashmir!
— BJPShanthikumar (@BJPShanthikumar) September 10, 2024
If the HM was scared, imagine the plight of ordinary citizens.
Contrast that with PM Shri @narendramodi govt’s era, where people now walk freely at Lal Chowk, even at midnight.… pic.twitter.com/eOymb6SlH3
Some of them even shared BJP leaders including Narendra Modi’s 1992 Ekta Yatra under the leadership of Dr Mulrli Manohar Joshi to unfurl the Indian flag Tricolour at the Lal Chowk despite open threats from terrorists. Back then, BJP leader Modi delivered a speech stating that the success of the Ekta Yatra had rattled the terrorists.
