The Congress continued to target Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for his sharp criticism of Jawaharlal Nehru on the Kashmir issue, with senior leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday claiming that a BJP ideologue told him that “vilifying Nehru is one thing but exalting erstwhile ruler Hari Singh as a benevolent hero takes the cake”.
On Thursday, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) accession to India, Mr. Rijiju had written an article for a news website in which he pointed out Pandit Nehru’s “blunders”, including enacting Article 370 and taking the dispute with Pakistan to the United Nations.
“I spoke to a BJP ideologue this morning about Kiren Rijiju, the latest entrant to the club of Distorians,” Mr. Ramesh retorted in a tweet to allude that the Law Minister had “distorted history”.
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“He (the BJP idealogue) sent me the following message: The strange thing is, Nehru being vilified is one thing, Hari Singh being exalted as some sort of upright & benevolent hero takes the cake,” added the senior Congress leader without naming the “BJP ideologue”.
Listing out “five Nehruvian blunders”, including floating the idea of a plebiscite and terming J&K’s accession as provisional, Mr. Rijiju said it was important to realise past mistakes to build a new future.
Asserting that he has not tweaked history but merely set the record straight, the minister claimed Nehru's decision caused much tragedy, drained the country's resources and cost thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians in militancy.
Hari Singh was the last Maharaja of the princely state of J&K; he was the one who signed the Instrument of Accession to India.
On Saturday, senior party leader Anand Sharma asked for an apology from the Law Minister for his “ill-informed comments”.
“I can only pity the mental bankruptcy of Minister Rijiju. He has no understanding of history, there is no proof, no evidence,” Mr. Sharma said, adding, ”I would say the Prime Minister should rein in Ministers from making such untrue, false and irresponsible statements as have been made in this regard.”
“The account of that period in 1947 has been carefully documented not by one but more than one person who was directly associated with the merger of princely states,” he added.
Other Congress leaders, including senior spokesperson Pawan Khera, ridiculed Mr. Rijiju for being trained in “WhatsApp nursery” and urged him to educate himself about India’s first Prime Minister.
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