Yechury faults PM Modi

​Hyderabad: Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks on Balochistan and Gilgit during his Independence Day speech saying it would give Pakistan an opportunity to ‘internationalise’ the Kashmir issue.

Addressing the Telangana state party plenary at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Kashmir issue cannot be treated as a mere law and order problem and needs a political solution.

“In his I-Day speech, the PM spoke about human rights violations in Balochistan and Gilgit. We have been saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Nobody has the right to interfere in its affairs.

But now we have started talking about Balochistan. We are giving an opportunity to Pakistan by raising the Balochistan issue. Now, Pakistan may say that since India is talking about Balochistan, which is an integral part of that country, they have the right to talk about Kashmir. With this kind of foreign policy, we are giving an opportunity to others to internationalise the Kashmir issue,” Yechury said.

“We have been asking the government to find a political solution to the Kashmir issue. We told the government the same when violence erupted (recently). We asked the government to convene an all-party meeting. The issue cannot be treated just as a law and order problem,” he said.

The CPM denounced Modi for blaming Pakistan for the Kashmir problem, instead of finding solutions to it. He said that all political parties in the country have time and again assured the government of their support in curbing cross-border terrorism.

Referring to the attacks on Dalits, he said ‘cow vigilantes’ are on the rise. The Modi government was bringing several changes in foreign policies and unrest still continuing in Kashmir though the curfew was going on for the last 36 days. Several people were dying and several people were losing their eye vision in Kashmir due to exchange of fire every day, he said.

The CPM has been demanding the government to solve the Kashmir problem since its inception, he said. The Modi government convened an all-party meeting on the final day of the just concluded Parliament session on the demand of CPM. The government escaped from the problem by pointing a finger at Pakistan and it was trying to sidetrack the Kashmir issue, he alleged.

Terming the Modi government as a ‘multi-faced’ monster, he said one of them hurts people with its economic policies, another with ‘communal’ politics, the third one by practising authoritarianism, and the fourth one with foreign policies. He blamed NDA government's policies for ‘poor industrial production, manufacturing growth and higher inflation’.