New Delhi: Launching a broadside at the Congress, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said a blunder by the main opposition party led to the creation of Pakistan and claimed that Pak-occupied Kashmir was the legacy of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Participating in the special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, Shah also slammed successive Congress governments for failing to capitalize on opportunities to reclaim lost territories from Pakistan and wondered how the opposition party was targeting the Modi government for not launching an all-out war against Islamabad.
“All roots of terrorism lead back to Pakistan. And Pakistan itself is the result of the Congress party’s blunder. Had they not accepted the idea of partition, Pakistan would never have come into existence,” Shah said.
Shah’s remarks came after Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi sought to know from the government why it halted the military action against Pakistan and stopped short of reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“In 1948, our armed forces were at a decisive stage in Kashmir. Sardar Patel kept saying no, but (Jawaharlal) Nehru announced a unilateral ceasefire. If Pak-occupied Kashmir exists today, it is due to this unilateral ceasefire announced by Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru is responsible for this,” the home minister said.
He also claimed that Nehru ceded the geographical and strategic advantage India enjoyed, and offered 80 per cent of the Indus waters to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960.
Shah said Congress had missed another crucial opportunity of reclaiming PoK in 1971, after India’s victory in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
“The creation of Bangladesh is something that India will always be proud of. But what happened in the glare of that victory? We had 93,000 prisoners of war – that was 42 per cent of the Pakistani army – and 15,000 square kilometres of territory in our possession. Yet in Shimla, an agreement was signed, and they forgot to even ask for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Not just that – even the captured land was returned,” he said.
Shah also held Nehru responsible for India not securing a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.
“It was Nehru’s decision that cost us the UN Security Council seat,” Shah said, quoting from books written by the first prime minister.
Shah said the Congress had opposed the Prevention of Terrorism Act which was enacted in 2002 by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to curb terrorism.
“I want to ask today who was Congress trying to protect by blocking POTA? The moment Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi’s government came to power, POTA was repealed in the first cabinet meeting. The country deserves to know – who benefitted from the Congress repealing POTA,” the home minister asked.
Shah said the Opposition was asking the government why the attackers of Pahalgam were allowed to flee. “Well, the security forces have answered on my behalf. The Army had gunned them down,” he said.
The home minister said a number of terrorists had fled the country when the Congress was in power.
“Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar fled in 1986, when the Rajiv Gandhi government was in power. Syed Salahuddin, Tiger Memon, Anis Ibrahim Kaskar fled in 1993, when the Congress government was in power. Riyaz Bhatkal fled in 2007, when the Congress government was in power. Iqbal Bhatkal fled in 2010, then it was their government,” Shah said.
“Now, let Rahul Gandhi answer why these people fled the country,” he said.
The home minister referred to the Batla House encounter of 2008, and recalled how Congress leader Salman Khurshid was shedding tears for the dead terrorists.
“I thought something serious had happened. He said Sonia Gandhi cried for the Batla House terrorists. If she had to cry, she should’ve cried for martyr Mohan Sharma instead,” Shah said.
As Congress members rose in protest, Shah said he has downloaded a video of Khurshid on his mobile phone and was ready to play it in the House if required.
