Blaming Nehru for complicating Kashmir issue is propaganda to some extent: Sanjay Raut

Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said blaming former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or Congress for complicating the Kashmir issue was a propaganda to some extent. The Sena spokesperson also took on the BJP over the recent decision of permitting people from across the country to buy land in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Raut, in his column Rokhthok in party mouthpiece Saamana, wrote that Nehru did his best to resolve the Kashmir issue and maintain peace. “It is a propaganda to some extent that Pandit Nehru or Congress complicated the Kashmir issue. Nehru did experiments to resolve the Kashmir issue and maintain peace. Similar experiments were made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee…,” the column read.

The Sena MP added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had formed a government in Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti. “This too should be seen as an experiment for maintaining peace,” the columns stated.

Raut added that Mufti should be arrested for her remarks that the national flag would not be allowed to hoist in Kashmir until Article 370 is restored.

“The allegation that the role of Pandit Nehru or the then rulers was lenient on the Kashmir issue is not true. The tradition of presenting history conveniently has started now,” Raut wrote. He recalled an incident from August, 1953 when Nehru arrested then Kashmir PM Sheikh Abdullah after he challenged the Indian government.

The Sena leader wrote that while 40,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled the Valley, there was a “propaganda” that Pandits would be “able to return home easily after the abrogation of Article 370”. “No Kashmiri Pandit has yet been able to return to the Kashmir Valley,” wrote Raut.

Referring to the Union government’s decision of permitting to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir, Raut said that four days ago, the police stopped the youths who had gone to Srinagar’s Lal Chowk to hoist the Tricolour. “… If we can’t hoist our national flag on that land, then what is the use of that land?” asked Raut. (Indian Express)