Taking up the issue of Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha today. Azad in his speech reiterated that the Prime Minister sits close to the discussion of both Houses yet he is far from the crux of the debate. While taking a swipe at him for talking about the Valley’s current scenario at an event in Madhya Pradesh, Azad retorted that had he really felt the importance of it, he would have made a statement in the House and not at some rally.

After chairing a High level meet and yet keeping a deep silence in public about the lockdown of the Valley, PM Modi on Tuesday said, “be it the Jammu and Kashmir government under Mehbooba Mufti or the central government, we are finding solutions to all problems through development.”

The Prime Minister roars that development will be brought to the Valley. So far, the only development in the valley seems to be the use of so called advanced pellet guns on protesters. But, can we prioritize development before normalcy?

Azad remarked that it is now and often said that Kashmir is an integral part of India, however that seems to be true only on paper. Criticizing Modi for not making an effective statement about the same, Azad said, Bharat ka taj jal raha aur sar ko mehsoos bhi nahi ho raha hai (Kashmir is a hot bed of issues right now and Prime Minister continues to ignore it)

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One cannot fully oppose Ghulam Nabi Azad’s remarks made in Rajya Sabha today. It is not an Opposition Leader targeting the Prime Minister, its a common man questioning, why a Prime Minster who takes a few seconds to condole the deaths in a foreign attack, takes so long to speak on a lockdown of 33 days, 56 deaths and innumerable injured.

After much wrangling he spoke against the Dalit atrocities, I assume that his ‘list of topics to be spoken upon’ has Kashmir in it, but somewhere down the list. After all he continues to inaugurate schemes and paying his tribute to statues, while people in Kashmir are being reduced to statues in their coffins.

Dear Prime Minister, Dalits heard you after they were struck and Kashmir waits to hear from you since they were struck.