Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday pointed out “two big mistakes” done by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which led to the sufferings of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Shah noted that Nehru declared a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir (during the 1948 India-Pakistan war) and he also took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.
"I support the word that was used here -- Nehruvian blunder. Because of the blunder that was committed during the time of Nehru, Kashmir had to suffer," Shah said.
"Kashmir had to suffer due to Nehruvian blunders. One was that when our Army was winning and as soon as Punjab area was reached, ceasefire was declared and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was born. If the ceasefire would have been (declared) three days later, PoK would have been part of India," he said.
The second “blunder” committed by Nehru was taking India’s internal issue to the UN, said the home minister.
"So much land of this country was lost, it was a historic blunder."
Shah was replying to a debate on two key bills—Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill—which were later passed by the lower house.
The home minister blamed the previous governments in the erstwhile state for the exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the region.
The two bills will give justice to those who are deprived of their rights for the last 70 years, Shah said, while asserting that that reservation to the displaced people will give them a voice in the legislature.
"The bill that I have brought here pertains to bringing justice to and providing rights to those against whom injustice was done, who were insulted and those who were ignored,” he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide representation to Kashmiri migrants, displaced Persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and scheduled tribes in the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir "to preserve their political rights as well as for their overall social and economic development".
