Speeches in Parliament Vol. (I)-94

At the same time he was the man who was instrumental for the accession of Kashmir to India. Unfortunately he has forgotten all his past. That is our present difficulty. He is making speeches. I do not want to make any adverse comment or create any new problems for India and Kashmir, but one thing is certain that the great man that he is, he    is still in search of him self if I may say so. He is trying to find out what is in mind. This convention, about which my hon. firend Shri Abdul Ghani Dar made a This very eloquent speech was an attempt to find out what he really wants. It is his problem, it is not a problem for us. We know where we are. I must say that Mr. Jai Prakash Narain who attended the convention did a singular service to the cause of Kashmir by forthrightly telling him what the reality of politics there is. Unfortunately Sheikh Abdullah has neither supported what Mr. Jai Prakash Narain said nor rejected it.

My impression is that he has neither accepted nor rejected. They have decided again to meet and find out what they really want. It is their right to find out what they want, but as long as the reality is not realised by those who want to discuss this question, nothing is likely to materialise. This is the reality. We have to take this as the reality and work on that basis. Our efforts for the development of Kashmir are continuing, will continue.

The hon. Member has mentioned how many hundreds of crores were given to Kashmir. I do not want to go into those details. Certainly large amounts have been given. What is wrong about it ?

... You think that because the money in Kashmir is not well spent a parliamentary committee should be appointed from here. Why not appoint a parliamentary committee for all the States? Why choose only Kashmir? They have got their Public Accounts Committee and other things. Why do you want a parliamentary committee to find out how they are spending the money ? This is an attitude of suspicion. Once we start looking at these problems from this point of view, then the people in Kashmir will say that we are not merely giving them money but we want to find out the way they are spending.

.. I agree with the figure that the hon. Member has mentioned that in the last 20 years nearly Rs. 300 crores have been given by way of loans and other things. There is nothing wrong, but his only point is they should have been given more. There Mr. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad may be right. I do not share this view that we should appoint a Parliamentary Committee because the whole money is ill spent because in the last 20 years money was spent by Sheikh Abdullah. Bakshi Saheb and the present Government of Mr. Sadiq.

The Auditor General and other organisations are there to see how the money is spent. They have got their own State legislature. They are going into it and finding out what is done. The Public Accounts Committee is there to see what exactly is done. Do you say that the Parliamentary Committee is for this function ? Have you done it before in any other State ? When we talk about it only in respect of Jammu and Kashmir we are not bridging the gulf but we are, really speaking, trying to widen it. It is wrong. Now, some Members took objection to what was happening to the elections. This has become a fashion to say that elections in Kashmir were rigged.