We have lost Kashmiris emotionally: Sinha
NEW DELHI: Having assailed finance minister Arun Jaitley over the “mess” in the economy, veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha attacked the government on the Kashmir imbroglio, insisting “India has lost people of the valley emotionally”.
In an interview to ‘The Wire’ recorded on Friday, the former Union minister answered questions from journalist Karan Thapar over his criticism for an article he wrote in The Indian Express on the state of economy that left the BJP embarrassed.
Sinha termed as “exaggerated claims” the success of various reforms and schemes under- taken by the Modi government.
“I am looking at the alienation of the masses of people in Jammu and Kashmir. That is something which bothers me the most. We have lost the people emotionally. You just have to visit the Valley to realise that they have lost faith in us,” the BJP leader said.
Sinha leads a civil society organisation, Concerned Citizens Group, which has visited the troubled Valley several times and interacted with various stakeholders to explore the possibility of finding a solution to the seven-decade-old problem.
Sinha claimed he had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue 10 months ago and was “hurt” when it did not happen.
“I am hurt. I am absolutely hurt. That you ask for time, ten months has gone by. Let me tell you, ever since I have been in public life, no prime minister of India, starting with Rajiv Gandhi, has ever said no to a meeting I have sought. No prime minister has said to Yashwant Sinha, ‘I don’t have time for you,’ he said.
“And this is my own prime minister who has treated me like this. So if somebody rings me and says please come talk to me, (then) sorry, the time has passed I have been treated shabbily.”
Sinha also took on Jaitley for suggesting that his shifting from the finance to external affairs ministry during the Vajpayee government was a “demotion”.
“How can (Jaitley) say that...? If Mr Jaitley with the same stroke wants to say that Sushma Swaraj, the external affairs minister of today, is handling a totally insignificant portfolio, nobody is going to believe it.”
He debunked claims by several BJP leaders and ministers, including his own son Jayant, the minister of state for civil aviation, that the government has made “massive structural changes” which will help the economy in the long run.
Sinha said the Mudra scheme, set up to provide funding to noncorporate, non-farm sector income generating activities of micro and small enterprises, was another name for Pradhan Mantri Swarojgar Yojana of the Vajpayee government. He said the average loan in these accounts was a meagre ₹11,000.
“In today’s day and age, what kind of business can be set up with ₹25,000, ₹50,000? The party president (Amit Shah) said all these 80 million people today are self-employed which means we have created 80 million job opportunities. This is absolutely untenable,” he said.