Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the government on Sunday and blamed it for the ongoing unrest in Kashmir.
Dubbing the BJP-PDP “incompetent”, Rahul charged that the Centre was mishandling the Kashmir issue even as it made empty reassurances about peace in the Valley.
“About six, seven months ago, Arun Jaitley came to see me, I told him they are mishandling Kashmir,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“Arun Jaitley brushed me aside and said Kashmir is peaceful. Government of India and the Prime Minister are completely mishandling Kashmir,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“They are creating a problem for this country by their incompetence and by trying to utilise Kashmir as a political asset,” the Congress vice-president said.
He said that Kashmir has been India’s strength but the current government is making it “India’s weakness”.
“Kashmir is India’s strength and they are making it India’s weakness,” he added.
Rahul’s assertion comes after a day of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assuring that a solution for the Kashmir unrest will be chalked out at any cost, while adding that all the impediments coming in between the better future of Kashmir will be removed.
“We will find a permanent solution to Kashmir. It might take some time because the problem which has been prevailing since 1947, the solution to it cannot be taken out with just a snap. We will remove all the impediments for a better future of Kashmir. The nature which has given talent in the hands of the people of Kashmir will be used for the development of the Valley and country. Nature has not given those hands to pelt stones,” he said.
However in a major gaffe, the Congress has released a booklet with an incorrect map of the country, labelling the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as “India occupied Kashmir”.
The incident occurred during a conference of the opposition party to highlight the shortcomings of the Narendra Modi government during its three years of rule.
A map on page 12 of the booklet refers to Indian Kashmir as Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The state BJP was quick to react, saying the Congress and Pakistan appear to be speaking the same language on the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesman Satyadev Tripathi, however, said the map was only a printing mistake. “The Congress’s policy on Jammu and Kashmir is very clear. This printing mistake does not change the party’s policy,” said Tripathi.
The booklet was circulated to media persons at a press conference that All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (in charge UP) Ghulam Nabi Azad addressed in the presence of UPCC president Raj Babbar at the party headquarters here.
Azad targeted the Modi government for ‘failing to keep promises’ made to people and ‘misleading the people by inaugurating projects’ initiated during the tenure of UPA government.
