New Delhi: Veteran politician and Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah Wednesday criticised the BJP, saying it has a tendency to ignore the accomplishments of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
“They have always had differences with Nehru and will never acknowledge his work. This is politics,” the National Conference (NC) president told reporters outside Parliament.
His remarks came on a day the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to nominate to the legislative assembly two members from the Kashmiri migrant community and one representing displaced persons from PoK, was passed in the Lok Sabha.
Asked about Nehru taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, Abdullah said the situation at that time was different. He mentioned that the army had to be moved to Poonch and Rajouri as raiders had caused chaos.
He said instead of advancing towards Muzaffarabad (the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir), the decision was made to divert the forces to Poonch and Rajouri. As a result of this decision, these areas are now with India, Abdullah said.
The NC leader also highlighted the “mistake” made by the UN, which, he said, had treated India and Pakistan equally, despite the latter being the aggressor. He claimed that the UN was being influenced by the US, which had sided with Pakistan.
On reservation for the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities, Abdullah said he had written a letter advocating for their reservation in 1983, but it is still pending.
He also targeted the central government over its claims of normalcy in Kashmir, pointing to the heavy deployment of security forces.
Abdullah asked why people are still being killed and how terrorists are being able to infiltrate if terrorism had truly ended.
“…See the killings. Many army officers have been martyred. If terrorism has ended, why are people getting killed and how are terrorists infiltrating?” he asked.
PTI