Shah slams Nehru's 'blunders' as 2 bills on J&K passed by LS

Oppn walks out over remarks on first PM; House clears bills on quotas to weaker sections, more seats in J&K assembly with one for displaced people from Pok

- Neeraj Chauhan

Two bills on Jammu and Kashmir were passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, as Union home minister Amit Shah lashed out at India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for what he termed historic blunders, said previous governments contributed to people's sufferings, and defended his administration's record of bringing development and ending terrorism in the region.

Shah said Nehru erred in announcing a ceasefire after the 1948 conflict with Pakistan and then going to the United Nations, and added that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (Pok) would have been a part of India if correct steps were taken. He also hit out at the Congress over backward classes welfare.

"Nehru himself wrote to Sheikh Abdullah admitting that when our army was winning, we should not have agreed to the ceasefire. He himself admitted they could have negotiated better (at the UN). POK, which is ours anyway, would have been with us today if rights steps were taken. So much land of the country was lost. I say these were not mistakes. These were two historic blunders," he said.

"I support the word that was used Nehruvian blunder. Because of the blunder that was committed during the time of Nehru, Kashmir had to suffer. With responsibility, I want to say that the two big blunders that happened during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru, happened due to his decisions, because of which Kashmir had to suffer for years," Shah said.

Shah's comments came while replying to the debate on the two bills the Jammu and Kashmir reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The two pieces of legislation were introduced in Parliament on July 26 but were taken up for discussion on Tuesday.

In the speech, Shah asserted that Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their homes because of the "vote bank" politics by parties in Kashmir, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ensured that these people get their rights.