As the politics around the film The Kashmir Files Continuing, the Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh criticized the opposition’s stand on this and the issue of exodus of Pandits. The Udhampur MP, speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, targeted former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Congress on the issue.
“Her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was then the Union Home Minister. What did they do to stop the exodus?” Asked about Mehbooba Mufti’s allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party was only trying to weaponize the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Dr. Singh said. “In 1989 when this collective was There was an exodus… Have we forgotten who was the Home Minister of India? It was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The question will arise… what was the Home Minister doing?” Dr Singh said.
He also suggested that the decision to release dreaded terrorists like Masood Azhar from jail to ensure the safety of Rubaiya, daughter of Mufti Saeed, could have played a role in the attack on Kashmiri Pandits. “… the other incident that happened around the same time was the kidnapping of Rubaiya Saeed and then the release of Masood Azhar and other terrorists. Who will answer this? The Home Minister allowed the release of the deadliest terrorists. Was it not contributing to (Pandit exodus)?” MoS asked.
Dr Singh also defended the then Governor Jagmohan. The Kerala Congress had tweeted that Jagmohan had helped in the exodus of Pandits from the Valley by providing transport. Dr Singh said that the decision to provide buses is humane. “Those who today say that Jagmohan caused the exodus either do not want to read or remember history, or find it convenient to forget. Even in the early 1990s, the Congress party started campaigning that Jagmohan had deliberately asked KP to move out of the Kashmir Valley and secure free plots. Jammu and Delhi. How can someone be so insensitive that a person leaves his house of his own free will?” he asked.
“What actually happened was that they (KP) were running in panic. No power on earth could stop them and they didn’t know where to go. So providing them transport or bus to ensure safe travel was a big challenge in itself. Buses also got blown up in this firing. He was just ensuring a safe passage for those who were not ready to put themselves back in,” Dr Singh said.
The Kerala Congress and other opposition voices had alleged that the BJP’s support to The Kashmir Files was only to further its divisive and communal agenda. Dr Singh, however, denied the allegation that his party did nothing to rehabilitate Pandits who had become refugees in their own country. “When they came to Jammu, BJP stalwarts like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi struggled and took steps and finally ensured seats in educational institutions in Maharashtra and other places for the children of displaced people,” the minister said.
Speaking about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Dr Singh recalled how as a young doctor in Jammu, he had witnessed firsthand the pathetic condition of homeless members of the community.
“The most painful part of his first summer in 1990 in Jammu and Delhi was witnessed by me and other doctors. They weren’t used to spending summers outside the valley and we had a flurry of heat stroke. I was there. As young medicos, we would literally pick up heat-affected KPs and put them on slabs of ice. The camps were not built properly as they were built in haste. They were in the most unhygienic conditions. Movies were made by Doordarshan showing the drains flowing outside the kitchen area. So that was inhuman condition. But salute, they have a remarkable instinct to survive; They came out of that struggle,” he said.
The film also found resonance on the floor of Parliament, where Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule asked what the government had done for KP in the last 7 years. “If a child is malnourished, the mother will feed him at 7 years and make him healthy,” she said.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, ‘What have you done to rehabilitate KP in 8 years? When you couldn’t do anything, you started showing them films.”
Dr Singh denied the allegations. “They may have forgotten but we have the memory of an elephant. We are fighting all this to set the record straight,” he said. “A film like The Kashmir Files or any other film for that matter should be welcomed to keep the record straight as history has been distorted for many years. A lot of people have been allowed to do it.”
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