Govt misleading people on Kashmir, says Digvijay Singh

AGRA: Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday ridiculed the union government’s claims of the situation being “normal” in Kashmir and said that if that was the case then why was the commutation lockdown continuing in the valley till date.


Speaking to media persons in Mathura, Singh questioned why the curfew had not been lifted and arrested main stream opposition leaders not released if the situation was back to normal. “Why arms have been taken away from Kashmiri police personnel”, he said accusing the BJP-led union government of presenting a false picture of Kashmir to the country.

Recalling Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s words, Singh said, the former prime minister had propagated that peace, progress and prosperity in the Valley can be achieved by imbibing the spirit of “Jamhuriyat” (Democracy), “Kashmiriyat” (Identity of the people of Kashmir), and “Insaniyat” (Humanity), which was universally acclaimed by all segments across of political spectrum in the state, including the extremist elements in the Valley. "Unfortunately, PM Narendra Modi and home Minister Amit Shah have put everything aside and scrapped provisions of Article 370 and divided the state into two Union Territories," Singh said.

He claimed that human development index of J&K is better than most of the states. “I appeal Prime Minister Narendra Modi to leave 'Jumlabaji' and take steps to improve the economy of the country and provide employment to the youth.

Recently, the union government had claimed that restrictions in most areas of the Valley had been lifted and landline phones were functional and mobile phone connectivity will be restored soon.

Reacting on a statement given by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent visit to Mathura that some people get electric shock when they hear words like ‘Om’ and ‘cow’, Singh said that no one has any objection over it. He said, “The PM gives such statements in order to hide his and his government's failures”.

He alleged that BJP is the only political party which takes donation from beef exporters. In fact the party has itself admitted to the Election Commission in its return, said Digvijay, adding that on one side PM talks about stopping “pink revolution”, but the fact is that beef exports had shot up in the tenure of his government.

Singh claimed that Madhya Pradesh, under the Congress regime, was the first state, to constitute ‘Gau Seva Aayog’ in 1993-94 and released grants for it. But, the BJP government dissolved the commission in 2003 after coming to power.

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