Srinagar, Oct 4: Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on Sunday criticised the BJP-led central government for refusing to hold talks with Pakistan, saying it has the “courage” to launch surgical strikes but lacks the willingness to resolve issues.
Speaking at the 5th Halla Bolle Conclave here, the Congress veteran suggested holding talks at the Attari-Wagah border, asserting that arguing over past issues was not foreign policy.
“We seem to have the courage to go into surgical strikes with them. Why don’t we have the courage to sit across the table with them? Why can’t we talk to them? Why can’t we make friends with them?” he asked.
“Is there any other country in the world with whom we are more comfortable than with Pakistan? Is there any country in the world with whom Pakistan is more able to, you know, chat than with us?” he asked.
Pointing to previous dialogue processes with Pakistan, Aiyar asked, “Why don’t we show the courage to go there, and let them come here?”
“And if you don’t have that courage, then my suggestion is that we meet at Wagah-Attari. Place a table right on our border line so that the Pakistani delegation doesn’t leave Pakistan to talk to us, and we don’t leave India to talk to them. And keep this dialogue going,” he said.
He said the dialogue can establish what can be resolved and what cannot be resolved.
“Wherever a resolution emerges, let us take action on that. And whatever hasn’t been resolved, just postpone it, saying that for now it seems we cannot agree on this, but we will continue our dialogue. And whenever the atmosphere changes, then we will take up these remaining issues as well,” he added.
He, however, asserted that having arguments about the past was not foreign affairs.
“I think the only way we can arrive at any kind of constructive conclusion is by talking to them, however long it takes. And that is what the Americans did with the Russians. They never broke the diplomatic relationship; they never broke the dialogue. Sensible countries talk to each other; stupid countries don’t talk to each other,” he said.
To a question about the political situation in the country, Aiyar said, ‘It is very easy to fix what is wrong with the Indian political environment.”
“And to do that, you only have to follow the advice given by (PDP president) Mehbooba Mufti to Kashmiris, where she said that until all Kashmiris get together with a single voice, Delhi will not be influenced by individual Kashmiri leaders coming to Delhi,” he said.
The former Union minister added that the same can be said about the national political scene, which can be fixed when the entire non-Hindutva polity comes together.
“It can come together because we already have the INDIA bloc. And if the INDIA bloc comes together, we showed in the 2024 election that had we consolidated that bloc, we would have easily got the extra eight seats that are required to bring about a majority. And do you think Nitish would have joined him? Do you think Chandrababu would have joined him? No,” he said.
“We would have been in Delhi, and Kashmir would have got back its statehood. Kashmir might even have received back Article 370 and 35A, perhaps in a slightly different shape. But if you want to make progress, those who disagree have to get together. And if we get together, then we can make new initiatives on Pakistan,” he added.
He emphasised that the Indian tradition is to talk.
“We need to talk to Srinagar, Srinagar needs to talk to Jammu, the street’s voice needs to be brought into the discussion between the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan,” he said.
‘CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s actions disgraceful’
Aiyar described Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s actions amid the row over SIR as “disgraceful”.
“I think the chief election commissioner has behaved disgracefully. His two election commissioners have not behaved properly either because they have not endorsed publicly on television the 14 or 15 notes that they own. So, I really think this is the worst Election Commission,” Aiyar told reporters here.
On the row over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the former Union minister said what the government is doing is illegal.
“What they are doing is illegal. I accept that they have been elected. However, there is a lot of doubt surrounding the actions they have taken after being elected,” Aiyar said.
Gyanesh Kumar has been under the fire ever since a report in The Indian Express claimed that two election commissioners – Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi – had objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR exercise that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
On Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s call for dissolving the Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies, alleging that “all elections were illegal”, and demanding fresh polls by ballot paper, Aiyar said he did not agree with his party leader.
“I don’t agree with him. I think the Election Commission was functioning totally autonomously all the time until very recently. And I don’t think it’s necessary to statutorily make a constitutional body autonomous. The Supreme Court is not described as autonomous. It’s a constitutional body.
“So, by making it a constitutional body, you automatically ensure that it will be autonomous. But then, subversion has been done. The method by which these commissioners and judges are appointed is not transparent at all,” Aiyar said.
