The Central government's 'muscular policy' is responsible for the "worst ever" situation in Kashmir, former Union minister Prithviraj Chavan said today.
The Central government's 'muscular policy' is responsible for the "worst ever" situation in Kashmir, former Union minister Prithviraj Chavan said today.
"Congress never took a hardline approach (on Kashmir) as you have to connect with the people. When our government was in power, we followed a process. We were talking to all stakeholders and formed committees. There were so many initiatives," he told reporters here.
The senior Congress leader said the state was being run by a series of coalition governments for a long time, adding that the Congress had formed governments with both PDP and National Conference in the past.
"Compare this (PDP-BJP government) with the previous governments. Things are going out of hand because of the BJP and its muscular power.
"I have never seen the situation (in the valley) this bad and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state government are responsible for this mess," he said.
Chavan further said his party had formed a working group under the leadership of former prime minister Manmohan Singh to relook at various issues, including the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
The former Maharashtra chief minister evaded a direct reply on awarding Major Leetul Gogoi, who used a villager as a human shield against stone pelters by tying him to an army vehicle during the bypolls in Srinagar parliamentary constituency last month.
He said his party has already conveyed its position on the issue.
However, Chavan added that the commendation card awarded to the officer was a decision taken in haste as the enquiries by the Army and police into the incident was still in progress.
"On one hand, the Army has constituted a court of enquiry and on the other hand, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister has ordered IG level probe into the incident. So far both the enquiries are in progress. I think it has been done in haste," he said.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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