Shah blames Nehru's "historic blunder" for J&K issue

Says, truce with Pak in 1948 was to "improve one's (Nehru's) personal image"

BJP President Amit Shah today blamed late Jawaharlal Nehru accusing him of having committed a "historic blunder" on Kashmir and the criticised the then Congress leadership for the partition.

Referring to the declaration of truce when Pakistan-backed tribal raiders in 1948 were being repulsed in Kashmir, he said if such a decision was not made, the Jammu and Kashmir problem would not have existed today.

"Suddenly, without any reason....The reason is not known even today, truce was declared. Never has any leader of the country made such a historic blunder. If Jawaharlalji had not declared a ceasefire at that time, the Kashmir issue would not have existed," Shah said speaking at an event in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) here.
 

He claimed that this decision was taken to improve "one's (Nehru's) personal image," and lamented that because of this a part of Kashmir is now with Pakistan.

The event was to commemorate Bhartiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, where Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy gave a lecture. In his lecture, Roy also raised questions over the circumstances leading to Mookerjee's death in Kashmir in 1953 where he had gone to participate in a protest and raised questions about Nehru's handling of the events and the decision not to conduct an inquiry into it.

Shah said that a "large section" believes that Mookerjee's death was in fact "murder" and if a probe had been conducted, truth could have come out.

Lauding the Jan Sangh founder's role, Shah said that he had played a key role in raising the concerns of Hindus in Bengal and "If Kolkata is a part of India, and one person has to be given credit for it, it is Syama Prasad Mookerji."

Shah claimed that if the Congress leadership at the time of independence had not got into a hurry, the division of India could have been prevented.

"When at the time of independence, the entire Congress leadership was anxious to become independent.... All of them were ageing, if it gets delayed was also worrying them. But at that time a young leader thought that a mistake should not happen and Bengal was saved," Shah said.