India lost Kashmir valley emotionally: Yashwant Sinha

Having assailed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the “mess” in the economy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran leader Yashwant Sinha attacked the government on the Kashmir imbroglio, insisting “India has lost people of the valley emotionally”.

Sinha, in comments that would not go down well with the BJP leadership, said Pakistan was “a necessary third party” in the dispute plaguing the restive state which cannot be wished away.

In an interview to The Wire recorded on Friday, the former Union minister answered questions from journalist Karan Thapar on him being criticised for an article he wrote in a leading English daily on the state of economy that left the BJP embarrassed.

Sinha termed as “exaggerated claims” the success of the various reforms and schemes undertaken by the government like the Mudra Bank.

“I am looking at the alienation of the masses of people in Jammu and Kashmir. That is something which bothers me the most… We have lost the people emotionally… You just have to visit the valley to realise that they have lost faith in us,” Sinha said.

Sinha leads a civil society organisation — Concerned Citizens Group — which has visited the troubled Valley several times and interacted with various stakeholders to explore the possibility of finding a lasting solution to the seven-decades-old problem.

The group comprises eminent people from different walks of life like Justice (retd) A P Shah, former Mumbai police commissioner J F Ribeira, Wajahat Habibullah, A S Dulat, Aruna Roy and Ramchandra Guha.

“....at the same time I will say that Pakistan is, unfortunately, a necessary third party in Jammu and Kashmir… And therefore, if you want a final resolution then we’ll have to involve with Pakistan at some point of time… Yes, you can’t carry on with this forever,” he said.