After slamming Congress party for misleading the nation on the issue of Rafale deal, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took on Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Rajya Sabha today on the issue of instability in Jammu and Kashmir.
While debating the discussion on the proclamation of President rule under Article 356 in Jammu and Kashmir, leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad went on to accuse the present government of creating instability in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He also praised Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his attempts to resolve the Kashmir conflict. He added that Vajpayee understood the pain of the Kashmiri people but because of internal strife within the party that he could not deliver a solution to the Kashmir conflict.
Azad went on to claim that BJP had abused Kashmir in the past, which has led to the alienation of the people of the state. He further accused BJP of rising militancy, infiltration in the border state and claimed that economic activity and tourism is at the lowest after BJP came to power in Jammu and Kashmir.
“You cannot abuse them for 20 years and then rule them. I had warned that the BJP will prove to be a drag in the state if it comes to power and I was not wrong. The security situation in Kashmir is at its lowest. The recruitment to militancy has increased and the employment is at an all-time low,” Azad said in Rajya Sabha.
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Responding to Azad, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused Ghulam Nabi Azad of attempting to erase and re-write history to change facts regarding Congress party’s misadventures in the state. “The problem did not start in 2014. BJP had no role in Kashmir’s old chapters. If you read the entire history of Kashmir, if the sovereignty of this country was ever challenged, then Jammu & Kashmir loses a point”.
Referring to Sheik Abdullah, Jaitley went on to blame Congress for putting too much faith in one man and accused the Congress party of betraying Abdullah whenever he did not support the Congress party. Arun Jaitley held Congress responsible for the current situation of Jammu and Kashmir without naming Jawaharlal Nehru for taking the issue of Jammu and Kashmir into the United Nations and accepting a ‘plebiscite’ in Kashmir.
Congress created barriers between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and great leaders like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee even laid his life to prevent it, said Jaitley with reference to provisions like Article 370.
Arun Jaitley further accused Congress party of using undemocratic ways to win power in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was Congress party which started the alienation of the people by subverting democracy in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“The elections at that time were a matter of joke in Kashmir. Everybody knows how elections were conducted. Congress ruled Jammu & Kashmir using undemocratic means and the party had manipulated the election processes in the state to stay in power. Congress’ mistakes are hurting Kashmir, not the current rule of the BJP,” Jaitley added.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Our party is not responsible for the sense of alienation in Jammu and Kashmir. The sense of alienation began before Independence”. “President’s Rule is not taking place in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time. At one point in time, President’s Rule was a necessity in J&K for six years. But now, an allegation is being made that it is because of our faults that President’s Rule was imposed in the state,” said Home Minister Singh.
