PM Modi keen to talk to China, but not with Hurriyat: Mani Shankar Aiyar

 Advocating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to learn lessons from Congress' experience to restore normalcy in the valley, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Saturday taunted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not holding dialogue with the Hurriyat.

"I fear that we are spinning into a situation in which we were in the 1990s"This government needs to learn lessons from Congress' experience, but I am afraid they are so prejudiced against the Congress that they will never learn any lessons from history," he said. Aiyar said it is alright to be hard on terrorism provided simultaneously and overwhelmingly there is also a political process that is put in motion. "And the absence of a political process owing to the fact that Mehbooba ji is being restrained by the BJP, owing to the fact that Mufti Sahab was also restrained by the BJP means that there is a political vacuum in which these kinds of acts of terror or people being attracted toward militancy does not have a suitable response," he added.

The Congress veteran emphasized it is essential that there be a political dialogue with those whom we disagree with. "Modi ji says that we should talk to China even though we disagree with them. Why doesn't he talk with to the Hurriyat" Why doesn't he talk to the students? Why doesn't he allow his coalition partner Mehbooba to reach out to them? The fact of the matter is that South Kashmir is supposed to be the fortress of the Mufti family and it is there where militancy is at its worst," he told ANI.

Holding the BJP responsible for the dangerous situation that is developing in the valley, Aiyar further asked Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to reach out to the dissatisfied elements. "I hold the BJP principally responsible for the very dangerous situation that is developing in the valley. They have entered into a coalition government with a party that is well-known for being sympathetically disposed to the students, who were feeling dispossessed, who were feeling unhappy, who had reported to stone throwing," he said.