Minister Hardeep Puri Attacks Ex PM Jawaharlal Nehru Over Kashmir
On Monday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took aim at Jawaharlal Nehru over Kashmir, calling his choice to bring the matter before a multilateral body a “monumental error.”
“Why was the (Kashmir) issue taken to international or multinational fora. My information has been that then Maharaja Hari Singh was happy to sign the instrument of accession. That’s what I have read as a student of history.
“But the political leadership in Delhi was saying they wanted it (accession) to be more broad based and therefore they wanted a plebiscite. So they wanted to take it to a multilateral forum. You cannot have a higher folly than that. I am using word folly very mildly,” Puri told reporters here.When asked if he agreed with the opinions Kiren Rijiju, a cabinet colleague, had voiced in an article regarding Nehru’s management of Kashmir, the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas gave his response.
“Was it an error of judgment? You can say the man made a mistake but you cannot justify it. The historical facts are staring you in the face that making the reference (to multinational fora) and calling for a plebiscite is not a folly, I think it is a monumental blunder. So I agree with my dear friend and colleague Kiren Rijiju entirely,” Mr Puri said.
When asked if he agreed with the opinions Kiren Rijiju, a cabinet colleague, had voiced in an article regarding Nehru’s management of Kashmir, the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas gave his response.“Because you made that mistake, other people took advantage of it. One country has been using terror as an instrument of state policy. I have said it 20 years ago. On ‘BBC Hard Talk’, I said this is a problem created from across the border but they could create this problem because someone on our side allowed them to do it,” he said The minister said he was pleased that today when he is in Kashmir, ”we are talking about development. Some years ago, what we were dealing with was an entire cadre of professional stone pelters”.
The minister, who is in J&K for two days, enumerated some of the development projects implemented by the administration there since Article 370 was repealed in August 2019.
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