Congress to blame for plight of Kashmiri Pandits: Sitharaman

New Delhi, March 23

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday refuted the Opposition’s charge that the BJP could not deny the responsibility for the failure to check the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 as it was supporting the then VP Singh-led government at the Centre.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, she said terror killings were taking place in Kashmir before 1990 also when the National Conference was in power in J&K in alliance with the Congress, and recalled the then Governor Jagmohan’s warning about dark clouds of terror overpowering the Valley.

J&K Budget passed

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• Parliament on Wednesday approved Rs1.42-lakh-crore Budget for Jammu and Kashmir for 2022-23
• It also passed Bill relating to supplementary demands for J&K for 2021-22

She listed out “seven major events” or killings of Hindus by terrorists in 1989 along with the related FIR numbers.

Sitharaman was replying to a discussion on Budget 2022-23 for the UT of J&K in the Rajya Sabha. .

During the discussion, the Congress had accused the BJP of supporting the VP Singh-led government at the Centre in 1990 when Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave the Valley after they were targeted by terrorists.

She also accused India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru of “internationalising” the Kashmir issue by taking it to the United Nations.