KL News Network
Srinagar
Historian Ramachandra Guha and former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar have questioned in unison, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s courage, “of which he keeps speaking about all the time”.
Times of India reported that both Guha and Aiyar were in Bengaluru to discuss issues relating to Kashmir, as part of the Kashmir Flashpoint conference.
“If the present Congress is a corrupt party filled with cronies, the BJP too has its hands dirty when it comes to Kashmir. If Modi has the courage he keeps speaking about, he should go to Kashmir, speak with adversaries. He must give an audience to the chief minister and not turn him/her away,” the report quoted Guha as having said.
Aiyar, who said that ‘Surgical Strike’ on Pakistan has not managed to achieve much with the situation along LoC only worsened, asked: “If you have the courage for a surgical strike, where is that courage when you have to sit across the table?”
The report added, While Guha said that no government after Jawaharlal Nehru’s time has managed anything constructive in Kashmir, Aiyar said that a lot of work has been done and that all of it must be brought on the table and discussed. Guha, who said all three sets of actors in Kashmir—Pakistan, the separatists and India—have dirt and blood on their hands, was also critical of Nehru, who was still much better than all other prime ministers.
Stating that the Nehru-Gandhi family has been a curse to the Congress party and also to Kashmir, Guha said: “Barring Morarji Desai, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nehru, there has been nothing that India has done.”
A S Dulat, former RAW chief, according to reports, said the events during the last four months in Kashmir have been extremely depressing. “Today, the boys on the street, the children of the revolutionaries feel alienated and there is a lot of hatred. They also have more determination and hence have a do-or-die attitude to carry it till the end, which is dangerous,” he said.
“Hence, it is necessary to engage in talks and to never stop talking,” the former RAW chief was quoted as having said.
Pertinently, Kashmir has witnessed shutdown, killings, injuries for over four months now, after Hizb commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter in Bemdoora village of Kulgam district.
