Hours after the Supreme Court’s big Article 370 verdict, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday blamed former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the problems of Jammu and Kashmir.
While speaking in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Shah quoted a statement form Nehru in which, Shah claimed, the former prime minister “admitted to his mistake” taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.
“After the experience of United Nations, I have come to the conclusions that no satisfactory results can be expected from there. I considered the ceasefire decision a good one, but we could not deal with this matter well. We should have had more thoughts on the ceasefire and taken it late. Though, these are the mistakes of the past.” This quote is of Jawaharlal Nehru. Unko toh manoge ya nahi manoge ki unhone galti ki. Accept this…(Nehru himself is accepting that he did a mistake),” Shah said while quoting Nehru.
Shah also gave a reference to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and said that it was due to Sardar Patel’s intervention that the Indian Army was sent when Kashmir was being invaded by the Pakistanis.
“I want to give a reference to Sam Manekshaw. He said at one place that when the Pakistanis were attacking Kashmir, then he was busy in discussions (don’t want to name the person). Sam Manekshaw was present at a meeting in which Sardar Patel told Nehru, “Do you want Kashmir or not?” Then the decision to send the army was taken. If there was no ceasefire at an appropriate time, PoK would not have been there. Why was the matter taken to the UN?” Shah said.
The home minister also added, “The Supreme Court has affirmed that Article 370 was a temporary provision in the Indian Constitution. I would like to pose a question to those who adhere to Nehru’s philosophy: If Article 370 was extremely important, why did Nehru himself use the term ‘Temporary’ in relation to the article? Everyone who says that Article 370 is permanent is insulting the Constitution!”.
In Lok Sabha last week, Shah said that Nehru made two big mistakes due to which Kashmir had to suffer for many years.
(With ANI Inputs)