New Delhi (The Hawk): The Congress criticised Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday for his piece in which he blamed Nehru for "rejecting Maharaja Hari Singh's accession proposal in July 1947," calling him "the latest addition to the club of distorians."
"I spoke to a BJP ideologue this morning about Kiren Rijiju, the latest addition to the club of Distorians," Congress national secretary Jairam Ramesh stated. He texted me the following:
"The weird thing is, while Nehru is demonised, Hari Singh is elevated as some sort of upright & compassionate figure."
"The first is to celebrate it as the 75th anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India through the instrument of accession," Rijiju stated in his article. This is historically correct. There is, however, another, far more contextual and realistic way of looking at this date. The 27th of October marks the 75th anniversary of one of Jawaharlal Nehru's worst errors, both before and after this date, that dogged India for the following seven decades."
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently brought up the Kashmir issue and criticised Nehru, the Congress was eager to respond. Even though PM Modi did not use Nehru's name, Congress claimed Modi should first check the facts.
The BJP accused Maharaja Hari Singh, the then-ruler of J&K, for not acceding to India shortly after independence, but only after Pakistani invaders attempted to take over the territory.
"The PM has once again whitewashed REAL history," Jairam Ramesh stated, citing Rajmohan Gandhi's book. He ignores the following facts in order to criticise Nehru on J&K. All of this is detailed in Rajmohan Gandhi's biography of Sardar Patel. These facts are also known to the Prime Minister's new guy in Kashmir."
(Inputs from Agencies)