'Pakistan would have taken Poonch, Rajouri if...': Farooq Abdullah corrects Amit Shah on 'Jawaharlal Nehru, PoK' remark

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah defended Jawaharlal Nehru, correcting Home Minister Amit Shah's ‘Nehruvian Blunder’ remark.

Farooq Abdullah said that ‘Lord Mountbatten and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had also suggested that this (Jammu and Kashmir debate) should go to the United Nations’.

Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed the first prime minister of Independent India Jawaharlal Nehru for Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). In a boldly worded speech replying to questions on the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, tabled in the Lok Sabha, Amit Shah said ‘PoK is ours’.

Farooq Abdullah said, “...At that time, the army was diverted to save Poonch and Rajouri. If it had not been done, Poonch and Rajouri would have also gone to Pakistan...There was no other way than this, Lord Mountbatten and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had also suggested that this should go to the United Nations...”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah blamed  Jawaharlal Nehru's "two major blunders" -- declaring a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir and taking the issue to the United Nations -- for the sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The ceasefire made without winning the entire Kashmir was one "blunder" and the other was taking the issue to the UN.

"I support the word that was used here -- Nehruvian blunder. Because of the blunder that was committed during the time of Nehru, Kashmir had to suffer. With responsibility, I want to say that the two big blunders that happened during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru, happened due to his decisions, because of which Kashmir had to suffer for years," Shah said.

In his remarks, Amit Shah also alleged that the Kashmir matter was taken to the UN in a hurry.

"If at all it had to be taken to the UN, it should have been sent under Article 51 rather than Article 35 of the UN Charter," he said, asserting that he of course believes that the issue should not have been taken to the UN in the first place.

Shah also quoted Nehru as saying later that the ceasefire was a "mistake". Shah added that it was not Nehru's mistake but a blunder.

"So much land of this country was lost, it was a historic blunder," the home minister added.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir, or Pakistan occupied Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill were passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.