New Delhi: Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar waded into fresh controversy on Monday as he compared the situation in Jammu and Kashmir to Palestine even as party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra upped the ante by wishing Id to Kashmiris who she said were under “massive restrictions and troubles”.
“Wish you all on Id, specially my brothers and sisters in Kashmir who are under massive restrictions and troubles,” Ms Gandhi Vadra tweeted.
Mr Aiyar, who is not new to political controversies said, “Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have just created a Palestine on our northern border. To do so, they first floated the deceitful rumour of an imminent massive Pakistani terror attack on the Valley to induct around 35,000 additional armed personnel into a region already bristling with lakhs of jawans. They then forcibly evacuated tens of thousands of Amarnath yatris and tourists from Kashmir”.
Their comments come close on the heels of those made by former home minister P. Chidambaram in Chennai on Sunday in which he slammed the BJP-led NDA government for ending the state’s special status.
“If J&K was a Hindu-dominated state, the BJP would not have done this. They did it only because the region is dominated by Muslims,” he claimed.
Mr Chidamabaram’s comments were termed as irresponsible and provocative by the BJP.
Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Congress of trying to give the issue a communal angle.
Mr Chouhan said it was the Congress’s “narrow mindedness” that it is looking at the issue through a “Hindu-Muslim” prism while Mr Prasad said the decision taken by the government is in the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and their development.
After opposing the abrogation Bill in Parliament, the Congress party had faced some internal dissent when top leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Deepinder Hooda questioned blanket Opposition to the decision saying it was against public mood.
At a special CWC called to discuss the Article 370, there had been heated argument between Rahul Gandhi and Mr Scidnia.
