NEW DELHI: Congress criticised PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday for speaking on Kashmir issue at a rally in Madhya Pradesh rather in Parliament.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked “How come the Prime Minister addresses Kashmir from Madhya Pradesh… Why not from the House,”
“Is there no value of the Parliament?”
“PM Modi tweets on events across the world, but was silent on Kashmir crisis. When something happens in Africa, the Prime Minister tweets about it. But when the Taj of India is burning, the heat is not reaching the central government,” Azad said.
“We were told that he spoke on Kashmir issue in Madhya Pradesh because the chief minister told him to do so. This shows that the Parliament means nothing to the PM and he would not have spoken on the Kashmir issue if the chief minister had not asked him to do so,” he said.
“Do not only love the beauty of Kashmir. Love those who have been blinded, injured and killed,” he added, in an apparent reference to PM Modi’s yesterday’s remarks that “every Indian loves Kashmir.”
Azad said that Jammu and Kashmir is not like other Indian states. “Jammu and Kashmir government is dependent on the Centre and central forces for maintaining law and order in the state. If someone says that Mehbooba Mufti should alone solve the problem in Kashmir, that is not possible for her,” he added.
The Congress leader reminded that everyone in Kashmir is a victim of militancy. “Many of us have lost their near and dear ones due to this militancy in Kashmir,” he said. “Militants have no religion. A militant is a militant: be it from Kashmir or Punjab,” he said.
Intervening Azad’s speech, finance minister Arun Jailey said that “Jammu and Kashmir is facing a sensitive situation today, there’s a need for all of us to speak in one voice.”
More than 55 people have been killed in the weeks of demonstrations and clashes between Kashmiri protesters and security forces. The violence has left thousands injured. Hundreds, who have been hit by pellets, have partially or fully lost their eyesight.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the 32nd day of unrest in Kashmir and advocated a path of “democracy and dialogue” to restore peace in the spirit of ‘insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat’.
Reaching out to the people of the turbulent Valley which has witnessed the death of over 55 people in clashes and a record-breaking curfew in large parts, Modi said it was painful to see innocent youngsters, who should be holding laptops, books and cricket bats, “handed” stones and appealed to them for maintaining peace and harmony in the “heaven on earth”.