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Satya Pal Malik, the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has made a shocking revelation about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance on corruption.
During an interview with 'The Wire', Malik stated that the prime minister is not particularly averse to corruption, stating, "I can confidently say that the prime minister does not have a strong aversion to corruption." This revelation is expected to spark political turmoil within the Modi government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jammu and Kashmir.
During his tenure as governor, Satya Pal Malik was present during the Pulwama terrorist attack in February 2019 and the revocation of Article 370 in August of the same year.
He accused the Indian establishment, in particular the CRPF and the Home Ministry, of incompetence and negligence in handling the Pulwama attack.
Malik revealed that the CRPF had requested aircraft to transport its jawans, but the request had been denied by the Union Home Office.
In the interview, Malik accused the prime minister of being uninformed and ignorant about Kashmir. Furthermore, he revealed that Modi had ordered him not to speak about the Union Home Office's mistakes that led to the Pulwama attack.
Malik claims Modi instructed him to keep quiet about lapses
“I told it to the PM (on the) same evening. This is our fault. Had we given aircraft then this would not have happened. He told me, ‘Tum abhi chup raho….’ I had already said this to a couple of channels. He said, ‘Yeh sab mat bolo, yeh koi aur cheez hai. Hame bolne do….’ (National security adviser Ajit) Doval also told me, ‘Yeh sab mat boliye. Aap chup rahiye (Don't say all this. Stay quiet)….’ Mujhe lag gaya tha ki ab yeh sara onus Pakistan ke taraf jana hai toh 'chup rahiye' (I realised that the onus was being shifted to Pakistan, so 'stay quiet'),” Malik said.
Malik also claimed that NSA Ajit Doval advised him to refrain from speaking on the issue. Malik claimed that the aim was to blame Pakistan and gain electoral benefits for the BJP and the government.
Governor accuses government of negligence
Malik claimed that he had not been informed in advance about the Modi government's plan to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. However, he knew it would come since he had been on the agenda and had been discussed.
He revealed that one day before the special status under Article 370 was abrogated, he had received a call from the Home Secretary stating that he would send him a letter that should have been approved by the committee and sent before 11 a.m. the next day. Had he been consulted, he would have advised against downgrading Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, as he believed the Center wanted the police under his control for fear of a riot.
Malik claimed that during their discussions on Kashmir in 2018, when Modi had already spent four years in the top post, he found the prime minister "misinformed".
Malik alleges corruption in insurance deal and power project
In the interview, Malik repeated allegations he had previously made about corruption in an insurance deal and a power project he had halted as governor. He named a trading company, a former Jammu and Kashmir minister and an RSS leader in connection with the allegations against him.
Malik said he could safely say the prime minister did not dislike corruption much and accused him of transferring him from Goa, where he was governor, a week after he filed a complaint alleging corruption there. However, the prime minister supported him when he cancelled the "dodgy" projects in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
Malik revealed that despite being recommended for Z+ security and a house due to an alleged threat from Pakistan, he currently had only one agent protecting him. When asked about the lack of security, he stated that the government wanted him dead.
Malik commented: "If only we worked honestly in Kashmir. We never held fair elections there. We have manipulated the results… Due to these tricks, we do not build trust."
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