Jammu
Veteran Indian politician and lawyer Shanti Bhushan has said that the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir must be given the right to self-determination to decide their political future.
Shanti Bhushan along with his son Prashant Bhushan in a TV interview in New Delhi drawing credence from the UK referendum for Brexit and said, “They have permitted referendum in the UK even if they secede”. He suggested that the right to self-determination must be given to the Kashmiris even if they want to secede from India.
Referring to the past statement of his son Prashant Bhushan on Kashmir, Shanti Bhushan said, “My views are the same as [Prashant] Prashant. I take the view that it is the right of the people of a significant territory to determine for themselves as to what kind of government or administration that they want. It is therefore the right of the Kashmiri people also.”
In response to a question about present and past Indian politicians, Shanti Bhushan said that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru believed in democracy while PM Modi believed in dictatorship and authoritarianism. Prashant Bhushan, who was also present during the interview punctuated that Indira Gandhi was not as ‘fascist’ as Narendra Modi.—KMS
