NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday admitted that he was afraid of militants while visiting Jammu and Kashmir’s
Lal Chowk
during his tenure as home minister.
During the launch of his memoir ‘Five Decades in Politics,’ Shinde recalled his tour in the valley and said that he was advised to give a speech from Srinagar’s Lal Chowk which gave him a lot of publicity.
“When I became the home minister, I visited educationist
Vijay Dhar
. I used to ask him for advice. He advised me to not roam around but to visit Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), meet people and go around Dal Lake,” Shinde said.
“That advice gave me publicity and people thought that here is a home minister who goes there without any fear, but who do I tell that I was scared? I told you this just to make you laugh, but an ex-Policeman can’t speak like this,” he added.
Meanwhile, BJP mocked Shinde and claimed that his statement serves as an evidence of how, before the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, Congress and NC, along with PDP, promoted politics of “Pakistan Parasti Parivarwadi” in the valley.
BJP’s nationals spokesperson
Shehzad Poonawala
said, “This serves as evidence of how, before the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, Congress and NC, along with PDP, promoted politics of PPP (Pakistan Parasti Parivarwadi) and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Now, the politics of DDD (Development, Dialogue, and Decentralization) has taken over. Terrorism, which was once rampant, has significantly declined, stone-pelting has ceased, shutdowns have ended, and casualties among civilians and security forces have reduced. The terror hotspots have transformed into tourism hotspots. Streets where terrorists once fired bullets now see Sachin Tendulkar playing cricket. At the very least, they should pay attention to these points raised by Sushil Kumar Shinde,” he added.
Shinde was appointed as Union home minister in Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in 2012. Shinde’s tenure as the home minister saw the trials and executions of 26/11 Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.
