tyAt the same time, I must say that so far as I have understood, the Kashmir situation, certainly there is some sort of minority complex among the people. I had long talks and of course, it is rather very risky to make some sort of a general assessment about this. But I found everybody in Kashmir suffering from some sort of minority complex. A Hindu in Jammu feels he is a minority in Kashmir. Muslim in Kashmir feels he is a minority in Jammu. A Muslim in Kashmir Valley feels he is a minority in India. That sort of peculiar complex is there, which needs some sort of treatment and some sort of understanding. Therefore, I would say that any easy solutions suggested here and there are not the right solutions.

I am not going into the other aspects of it like the defence aspect, etc. I do not know who was a better Prime Minister there or Chief Minister there - Sheikh, Bakshi or Mr. Sadiq. I do not want to go into comparisons. But one must concede that Mr. Sadiq is a completely secular person, who has faith in secularism, Politically he is a liberal person. I know there are certainly some restrictions in civil liberty, because of certain inherent conditions in Kashmir. It is not something which I can say is very ideal. That is also because of certain local conditions there. But Mr. Sadiq is certainly a democrat and a liberal person. I must say after Tashkent Declaration, nearly 35 spy rings were broken by the Kashmir Government and large number of people were arrested for spying acitivities. Some illegal arms which were dumped in different parts of Kashmir were also unearthed and confiscated. Some prosecutions have also been launched. Therefore, as far as the national security aspect is concerned, Mr. Sadiq himself is taking as keen an interest as any of his predecessors. This must be said to the credit of the present Kashmir Government. What are the other defects of the Kashmir Government, this is not the occasion to go into them. But it cannot be said that they have done nothing about development. As Defence Minister in 1965 I had occasion to discuss many development aspects of those areas. I must say that it is not merely a question of what happens in Srinagar. Really speaking, the most important thing was what was happening in the interior, rural areas and in those border from which the infiltrators were threatening to come in. From that point of view, the Sadiq Government certainly has taken more important steps and definite progress has been achieved in those areas. I have seen it with my own eyes. It is not merely a question of quoting statistics here and there. He has got that democratic approach.

I entirely agree with Acharya Kripalani that the only solution to solve the Kashmir problem is to go to the people. I have no doubt about it; it is not only through this man or that man that we can solve the problem. Ultimately we have to go to the people and win their hearts. It is the people of Kashmir who are more important, not some small document to which Mr. Madhok referred. He may be believing in that. He has every right to believe in what he thinks to be right.

... Talking about political and democratic matters how can you forget the people. How can you say, if you do not want you go to Pakistan ? No. They will have to remain in India. If they are less patriotic we will have to work with them, create a feeling of friendliness and make them believe in India’s future and further participation in the Indian common life. That is, really speaking, what will have to be done. This is the approach we have to pursue in these matters. I am not holding any brief for any particular government, but my only point is that as far as the national security aspect is concerned we are alive.