Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stated that he was brushed off by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley months ago when he had warned him that the Centre is heading towards ‘setting Kashmir on fire’.
“Around six, seven months ago, Mr. Arun Jaitley came to see me and I told him that they are mishandling Kashmir and they are going to set Kashmir on fire. And Jaitley brushed me aside and said that Kashmir is peaceful,” Rahul told the media here.
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Asserting that the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are ‘mishandling’ Kashmir, he added saying that the NDA Government is creating a problem for the country by their incompetence and trying to utilize Kashmir as a political asset.
“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 for 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. 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.
Rajnath also hinted towards the process of dialogue, saying the Government will talk to anybody who wants to initiate talks.
“The situation in Kashmir has seen a lot of improvement and we can assure that the government will get the situation under control. Despite having a large Muslim population, ISIS has been unable to establish a hold in India,” Singh said when addressing the media in New Delhi.
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Further lauding the Centre’s governance, Singh further stated that under the Modi government, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir situation has improved a lot as 368 terrorists have been neutralized since 2014.
“After the surgical strikes by the Indian Army in September last year infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir has come down 45 percent. I assure that we will bring an end to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and establish peace and tranquility in the state,” Rajnath added.