Rahul Gandhi interviews Satya Pal Malik: 'You cannot fix Jammu and Kashmir with force'

In an interview with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Malik targeted PM Modi and the BJP government at the centre on a host of issues including the Centre's J&K policy, farmer protests and Manipur.

New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, who has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government at the Centre lately has upped the ante by targeting the PM and the BJP on various issues yet again. In a special interview with Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi, Malik accused the BJP of “using” the Pulwama suicide attack “for political gains” while questioning the BJP's Kashmir policy.

“You cannot fix Jammu and Kashmir with force or militarily. By winning the trust of the people, you can do anything. People there are very amiable,” Malik said. Asked by Rahul Gandhi over where the solution to the Kashmir issue lay, Malik said that statehood of the J&K UT should be immediately restored as a confidence-building measure and elections be held immediately.

“They (people of JK) are not as agitated with article 370 abrogation as with snatching statehood,” he stated. The former JK Governor claimed that the BJP downgraded the erstwhile JK state to UT “because they thought Jammu and Kashmir Police would revolt”. “But the police has been so faithful with the Government of India, the cops there did not take leave during the subsequent months,” he said.

As he has claimed earlier as well, Satya Pal Malik blamed the BJP-led Centre for the 2019 Pulwama suicide attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. I won't say the government did it, but they used it for political gains. Soon after the attack, videos surfaced showing BJP leaders asking people to vote for Pulwama martyrs,” he said.

Malik said that the PM should have gone to Srinagar to pay respect to the slain soldiers. “PM was busy shooting in Jim Corbett Park. He called me at 6 pm in the evening. I told him about the incident and told him that the soldiers died due to our negligence, but he asked me to be silent on the issue. Doval (National Security Advisor) called me later and he too asked me to be silent. I thought they might conduct a probe, but nothing happened,” he said.

Satya Pal Malik, who was the Governor of JK at the time, claimed that the CRPF had asked for five aircraft for the personnel, but were denied by the BJP government at the Centre. “The application was stuck with the Home Ministry for four months. I could do nothing as it was between CRPF and Home Ministry.

There were inputs about a possible attack. The Highway and link roads were not sanitized,” he added. Malik also targeted the BJP-led Centre and PM Modi on other issues including farmers' protests, Manipur violence and Adani. Over farmers' protests, Malik said, “ If BJP is not toppled at Centre, they will replace farmers with corporates as farmers will quit farming. They already finished military with Agniveer scheme”.

He said the purchasing power of farmers is diminishing with farmers getting poorer by the day. He also demanded that the Minimum Support Price should be implemented for at least selected crops. “After scrapping controversial farm laws, government had promised MSP but to no avail. Adani is buying crops at lesser prices and sells them at inflated prices. Had there been MSP, farmers won't sell crops at throwaway prices,” he added.

Malik also alleged nepotism in the appointment of vice-chancellors of central universities. “VCs of central universities appointed in last one year are affiliated to RSS,” he said. Over his transfer from Goa to Meghalaya as governor, Malik said that it was a “punishment posting after I raised corruption as Goa governor”.

Over Manipur violence, Malik said that the current situation was due to the “total failure” of the government. “Still, the CM has not been removed yet. The Northeast was stable, they destabilized it. There is a lot of anger towards BJP,” he added. Malik said that India as a country “will survive only as a liberal country as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi”.

“He had visited the lengths and breadths of the country and came to realise that liberalism was the way forward”. “Otherwise the country will disintegrate. Gandhi's and Congress's vision should be publicized. Politicians should talk about this. Information has been one way, but people have quit watching TV. Now they are trying to curb social media.

But people have understood their propaganda,” Malik said. The former BJP leader said that PM Modi has been indulging in “megalomania”. “He makes every small incident as a mega event like he did on Women's Empowerment Bill. He only needs power, nothing more. But people are understanding that he will do nothing. This is ironic that none of the corrupt people I had raised my voice against has been interrogated.

But on the contrary, the probe agencies have been raiding me every now and then,” Malik added. Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor has been regularly attacking the BJP-led Centre and PM Modi time and again. Earlier this year, Malik had said that the BJP could create a “Manipur-like situation” in the poll-bound states if it was not defeated.

In May this year, Malik had said that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were "fought on the bodies of our soldiers" killed in the 2019 Pulwama suicide attack.