COIMBATORE: Union home minister Amit Shah was distorting historical facts about Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, said Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K S Alagiri on Monday. He was speaking to reporters after inspecting arrangements for the party’s general body meeting to be held here on September 30.
“Shah has said it was because of Jawaharlal Nehru that there is a ‘Pakistan occupied Kashmir’ today. He has said had Nehru continued the war against Pakistan, or given the authority to Patel, the whole Kashmir would have been with India and the problem would have been solved. My regret is that the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has been talking without knowledge of her field and the home minister has been talking without a knowledge of history,” he said.
Alagiri said the Prime Minister of India or Pakistan could not have taken direct responsibility of the war as Lord Mountbatten was the authority. “After the partition, the English government asked Mountbatten to give all powers to the two countries except military powers. So the Indian army general had to take Mountbatten’s orders,” he said.
“Mountbatten had agreed to send Indian forces at the request of Raja Hari Singh of Kashmir. But after Pakistani occupants had been driven away, Mountbatten ordered that the war be stopped. There are records for this with both India and Pakistan,” Alagiri said and added that the BJP’s statement that it was only because of Nehru that India has not been able to acquire Pakistan occupied Kashmir is a big lie.
He said the fact that Kashmir, with a population comprising 95% Muslims, decided to stay with India and not go with Pakistan was a great event in world history. “Without Nehru, Kashmir, the most beautiful region on the earth, would not have been acceded to India without a drop of blood being shed,” he said.
Alagiri said, “If ordinary people convey wrong information, they can be forgiven, but if important people in the government do so, one has to wonder whether they are mistakes really. Dictators always distort history. Similarly, Shah is trying to distort Kashmir’s history.”
“Shah has said it was because of Jawaharlal Nehru that there is a ‘Pakistan occupied Kashmir’ today. He has said had Nehru continued the war against Pakistan, or given the authority to Patel, the whole Kashmir would have been with India and the problem would have been solved. My regret is that the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has been talking without knowledge of her field and the home minister has been talking without a knowledge of history,” he said.
Alagiri said the Prime Minister of India or Pakistan could not have taken direct responsibility of the war as Lord Mountbatten was the authority. “After the partition, the English government asked Mountbatten to give all powers to the two countries except military powers. So the Indian army general had to take Mountbatten’s orders,” he said.
“Mountbatten had agreed to send Indian forces at the request of Raja Hari Singh of Kashmir. But after Pakistani occupants had been driven away, Mountbatten ordered that the war be stopped. There are records for this with both India and Pakistan,” Alagiri said and added that the BJP’s statement that it was only because of Nehru that India has not been able to acquire Pakistan occupied Kashmir is a big lie.
He said the fact that Kashmir, with a population comprising 95% Muslims, decided to stay with India and not go with Pakistan was a great event in world history. “Without Nehru, Kashmir, the most beautiful region on the earth, would not have been acceded to India without a drop of blood being shed,” he said.
Alagiri said, “If ordinary people convey wrong information, they can be forgiven, but if important people in the government do so, one has to wonder whether they are mistakes really. Dictators always distort history. Similarly, Shah is trying to distort Kashmir’s history.”
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