Indian Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has acknowledged that India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, took the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations, which, he, however called a ‘monumental blunder’.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi, Hardeep Singh Puri targeted Jawaharlal Nehru over Kashmir, saying the decision of country’s first prime minister to take the issue to a multilateral forum was a “monumental blunder”. He said: “Why was the Kashmir issue taken to international or multinational fora….”
While making a mention of so-called instrument of accession of Maharaja Hari Singh, the minister said, “But the political leadership in Delhi was saying they wanted it (accession) to be more broad-based and therefore they wanted a plebiscite. So they wanted to take it to a multilateral forum. You cannot have a higher folly than that. I am using word folly very mildly.”
The Indian Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas was responding when asked if he agreed with the views of his cabinet colleague Kiren Rijiju on Nehru’s handling of Kashmir that the Indian law minister had expressed in an article.
“Was it an error of judgment? You can say the man made a mistake but you cannot justify it. The historical facts are staring you in the face that making the reference (to multinational fora) and calling for a plebiscite is not a folly, I think it is a monumental blunder. So I agree with my dear friend and colleague Kiren Rijiju entirely,” Puri said.
The minister said it was because of the mistake made by Nehru that India is facing trouble in Jammu and Kashmir.—KMS
