Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that Jammu and Kashmir suffered because of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s two “historic blunders” – first announcing the ceasefire and then going to the United Nations, adding that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) would have been part of India today if right steps were taken by the former Prime Minister.

He asserted that Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their homes because of the “vote-bank” politics by the parties in Kashmir, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has ensured these people get their “rights with respect”.

“Nehru himself wrote to Sheikh Abdullah, admitting that when our army was winning, we should not have agreed to the ceasefire. He admitted they could have negotiated better (at the UN). PoK, which is ours anyway, would have been with us today if the right steps were taken. So much land of the country was lost. I say these were not mistakes. These were two historic blunders, Nehruvian blunders, due to which Kashmir had to suffer,” Shah said while replying to the debate on two bills – the Jammu and Kashmir reservation (amendment) bill, 2023 and Jammu and Kashmir reorganization (amendment) bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha.

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A ruckus ensued in Parliament as Shah referred to what he called a “Nehruvian blunder”. His comments led to an uproar in the house, with Congress leaders terming it as an insult to the former prime minister. Congress later staged a walkout.

The two bills were introduced in Parliament on July 26 but were taken up for discussion on Tuesday.

The J&K reservation bill seeks to provide reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other socially and educationally backward classes. The J&K reorganisation bill provides for the reorganisation of the erstwhile state of J&K into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with an elected legislature) and Ladakh (without an elected legislature). It seeks to increase the number of seats to 90 from 83 in the J&K assembly – a number fixed by the delimitation commission earlier this year. It also reserves seven seats for scheduled castes and nine for scheduled tribes.

Shah said that the two bills aim to provide rights to those who have faced injustice and were ignored for decades.

“It will provide justice to those who faced injustice, were unseen and ignored for so long. They lived in their own country as refugees. Giving rights is fine but giving rights with respect is what matters more. This bill will give them back their rights to jobs, education, contest elections through reservation,” he said.

Several opposition leaders questioned the need for bringing new laws and the impact of the removal of Articles 370 and 35A from the erstwhile state.

Shah, responding to assertions, said article 370 was the root of all separatism and subsequent terrorism in the Valley, which he claimed has reduced significantly since.

“On August 5-6, 2019, those (Kashmiri) voices which were not heard for decades were heard. Around 46,631 Kashmiri Pandit families were displaced from their own homes and land, which was grabbed. Nobody thought about them. Rather, those who should have stopped this exodus were holidaying in London”.

The home minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only leader who has worked towards “wiping their tears’, who had to leave their homes and live in camps in other cities within India.

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“We found the solution and steps have been taken to return the properties to the rightful owners,” Shah said that the bills will also give voices to these persons in the J&K assembly.

On terrorism, Shah said terror incidents in the Valley have come down by 70% compared to Congress rule from 2004 to 2014; civilian and security personnel deaths are 72% and 59% less, respectively, and there were zero incidents of stone-pelting now.

Besides, J&K has for the first time in 30 years a cinema hall, a multiplex and a record two crore tourists have travelled there, Shah added.

The home minister also said a zero-terror plan, which has been prepared for J&K and has been worked on for the past three years, will be completed by 2026.

He also lashed out at Congress for talking about backward classes, saying that if any party has harmed backward classes and come in the way of their growth, it is Congress.

On a challenge by the leader of the opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary to have a full-day debate on the so-called mistakes of Nehru, Amit Shah said he was ready to debate on the issue “anytime”.

Both the bills were passed by the Lok Sabha after Shah’s speech.