New Delhi: Hitting out the Centre over what he called its policy of “suppression”, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Monday said, the government had claimed to make Kashmir like the rest of India but has ended up doing otherwise.
It must be recalled that Sinha had quit the BJP after being sidelined in the party he served for more than two decades.
Speaking at a protest against the Citizenship Act outside Jamia University, Sinha said that the attack on JNU students and teachers on Sunday had erased the difference between “government goons and government police”. He accused cops of “helping” the anti-social elements and not the innocent.
Mr Sinha asserted that in Kashmir also the government followed the policy of suppressing anybody who opposes them.
NDTV quoted Mr Sinha as saying, “Those in the government had claimed that we will make Kashmir like the rest of India. Today, after five months, Kashmir has not become like any other part of India but the rest of India has become like Kashmir.”
Likening the situation in Delhi, to that in Kashmir, Sinha said one would witness the heavy presence of security forces in Shopian, Baramulla or Pulwama in Kashmir, the situation in Delhi, where police personnel are deployed in large numbers, is similar.
“Wherever you look around, it’s a cycle of suppression. Earlier they would use the police to suppress voices but now they are also using goons to this effect. Whatever happened in JNU yesterday, shows this very tie-up,” he added.