NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday targeted Congress party and said that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's decision to approach the United Nations on the Kashmir issue was a 'Himalayan mistake.'
''Jawaharlal Nehru's declaration of untimely ceasefire led to the creation of PoK. His decision to move the United Nations in 1948 was a Himalayan mistake. A mistake greater than Himalaya. He made another mistake by selecting the wrong charter to refer the matter to the UN.'' the Home Minister said.
Home Minister Amit Shah: Jawaharlal Nehru's declaration of untimely ceasefire led to creation of PoK.His decision to move the United Nations in 1948 was a Himalayan mistake. A mistake greater than Himalaya. He made another mistake by selecting wrong charter to refer matter to UN pic.twitter.com/f1i9zVmMXU
— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2019
Holding the Congress party solely responsible for the present-day Kashmir dispute, the Home Minister slammed the critics for questioning the Narendra Modi government's move to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah said, ''Article 370 went on for years due to wrong promotion.''
"First of all, going to the UN for Kashmir was a blunder. And secondly, the selection of the charter was wrong. Instead of choosing charter 35, the government should have opted for charter 51," the BJP president said in a packed auditorium.
Attacking Congress further Shah said, ''Culture of Sufi saints in Kashmir was destroyed, where were these champions of human rights then? Where were they when Kashmiri Pandits were driven out of the region? Kashmir has suffered because of Article 370.''
Shah made these remarks while speaking at an event organised by Indraprasth Vishwa Samvad Kendra here.
Elaborating further on his claims, Shah said, "Charter 35 made it a conflict between two nations, while charter 51 would have helped us put the case of a foreign nation occupying our land."
He also alleged that Kashmir's history has been moulded to hide the truth.
"Even today, there are many rumours doing rounds about Article 370 and Kashmir. It is important to clarify them. We know since 1947 Kashmir has been a matter of discussion and controversy but distorted history was presented before people. Since the responsibility of writing history was in the hands of the same people who had committed mistakes, so as a result true facts were hidden. I think time has come that correct history is written and presented before people,'' Shah said.
Shah reminding the audience how Sardar Patel ensured 630 'riyasats' joined India after Independence, except for Jammu and Kashmir that was handled by Nehru.
Training his guns on the first Prime Minister, Shah said, "When Indian armed forces were on the verge of defeating Pakistani army and militants during Independence, Nehru called off the fight. This led to a major chunk of Jammu and Kashmir getting into hands of Pakistan. It is now called PoK."
(With Agency Inputs)
