Union Home Minister Amit Shah failed to answer the “fundamental” question of why was his government seeking to extend President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir if the security situation was in control in the State, the Congress said on Friday.
At a press conference after Mr. Shah’s speech in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Manish Tewari said the BJP government was trying to “deflect, obfuscate and run away” from the debate.
“The most fundamental question that the Home Minister chose not to answer is that if things are normal in Jammu and Kashmir, as the government claims in terms of the long laundry list of initiatives that was listed out in the Home Minister’s reply, then why has the government come to Parliament asking for extension of President’s rule,” he asked.
Mr. Tewari questioned the “intent” of the government in not holding Assembly polls when the Election Commission managed to hold the Lok Sabha election there.
Mr. Shah said the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was to be blamed for Kashmir’s precarious situation. “What is extremely unfortunate is this continuous embellishment and the selective use of untruths in order to try and build a new history of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr. Tewari said. Finger-pointing would not help resolve the issue, he noted.
Mr. Shah said in his speech that Article 370 was not temporary in nature. “If it’s a transitional provision, then why in 2016 — when they [the BJP] entered into an alliance with the PDP — they said that Article 370 will not be touched,” Mr. Tewari asked.
The BJP-PDP alliance government and the Union government were responsible for bringing Kashmir to such a pass.
“In 2014, over 64 per cent of the people participated in the Assembly elections. If it came down to five per cent in 2017 when one parliamentary bypoll was held and the other could not be held and the situation persisted till the recent Lok Sabha election, then who should bear the responsibility for it” he asked.
