New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Home Minister, P Chidambaram, on Wednesday blamed the PDP-BJP government for the unrest in Kashmir Valley and said the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have "exacerbated" the crisis.
Chidambaram said he was deeply concerned over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is "sliding into total chaos". "The PDP-BJP government is squarely responsible for the sharp deterioration in the last 6 weeks," he said in a
statement.
The former Home and Finance Minister in the UPA government said the statements of the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have "exacerbated" the crisis.
"Moderation in words and actions alone can retrieve the situation. The loss of lives of protesting youth, other civilians and security forces has devastated all of us. This must stop," he said.
Chidambaram said he was afraid the way out of the crisis cannot be found by the present government. "The Congress, National Conference and, if willing, the
PDP must come together to find a solution: firstly, an immediate solution to stop the violence and, then, a path forward that will bring hope, peace and prosperity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Normal life in Kashmir Valley has been affected due to protests against the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8. 63 civilians have been killed so far in the ongoing unrest.
Last month, Chidambaram had said the situation in Kashmir has been "mishandled" by successive governments in Srinagar and New Delhi.
"We (UPA government) did mishandle. But we corrected ourselves in 2010. Now, both the governments in Delhi and Srinagar mishandled (it) very, very badly," he had said.
Chidambaram had suggested a radical solution to the situation in Kashmir by advocating the restoration of the "grand bargain" under which Kashmir had acceded to India by granting a large degree of autonomy.
"I think their approach is wrong. We have ignored the grand bargain under which Kashmir acceded to India. I think we broke faith, we broke promises and as a result we have paid a heavy price," he had said.
The former Home Minister had said the best solution was that New Delhi should give an assurance to the people of Kashmir that the "grand bargain" promised during the time of Kashmir's accession "will be honoured fully".
Chidambaram said, "I may be wrong, I may be right but what is necessary is to give the assurance that the grand bargain will be fully honoured. Let them (people of Kashmir) frame their own laws as much as possible and as long as it
does not conflict with the Constitution.
"We have to assure that we will respect identity, history, culture, religion..." he added.
