Autonomy to Kashmir will be post-dated cheque for freedom: BJP

New Delhi (Only Kashmir): Jaitley insisted the situation in Kashmir was the worst in the last 63 years and blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the erstwhile Congress governments for the same. "Kashmir policy of India was a Nehruvian blunder... The money being spent today for our security in Kashmir would have been spent on farmers and in fighting hunger (had this blunder not taken place)," he said. The BJP leader maintained that the terrorists, after failing to win Kashmir through terrorism, have now resorted to a new strategy of mob violence. "They have realised that there is no global appetite for terrorism.... So now they are adopting a new strategy of mob violence (stone-throwing)," Jaitley said.

He alleged that while the Central government was weak, even the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir was clueless about how to fight the separatists and stone-pelters. "We told Farooq Abdullah to convince his son (Omar Abdullah) to go to the people to heal their wounds. But Omar chose to visit a hospital just 12 km away in a helicopter to meet those injured in violence," Jaitley said.