‘Ridiculously naive’: Gautam Gambhir responds to Mehbooba Mufti’s attack on Amit Shah
Mufti had said the new home minister resorting to ‘brute force’ to address the Kashmir problem was ‘ridiculously naive’.
Newly-elected MP Gautam Gambhir on Monday renewed his attack on former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after she criticised Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah.
Gambhir, who was elected from East Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha elections, criticised Mufti for describing Shah’s process to deal with the Kashmir matter as brutish. “While I am all for a talk-based solution to Kashmir problem but for Mehbooba Mufti to term Shri Amit Shah’s process as ‘brute’ is ‘ridiculously naive’,” he said on Twitter. “History has been witness to our patience and endurance. But if oppression ensures security for my people, then so be it.”
Gambhir was responding to Mufti’s call for a “political redressal” to the Kashmir problem. “Since 1947, Kashmir’s been looked through the prism of security by successive governments,” Mufti said on Twitter. “It’s a political problem that needs a political redressal by involving all stakeholders inc Pak [including Pakistan]. Expecting a quick fix through brute force by newly appointed HM [Home Minister] is ridiculously naive.”
After the Pulwama attack, in which 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed, the government had withdrawn the security of separatist leaders in Kashmir. India has repeatedly maintained that it will not hold talks with Pakistan until it gives up its state policy of supporting terrorism.
In April, Gambhir and Mufti had entered a spat on Twitter after she warned the Centre against abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution. Mufti blocked Gambhir at one point – and their exchanges included comments on Gambhir’s “mental health” and Mufti’s “depth of personality”.
Gambhir continued to attack Mufti, bringing up their Twitter spat while speaking to the media a few days later. “She can block me [on social media] but for how long will she block the 130 crore people of this country? How long will she block their realities?” he had said.