Ahmedabad/Srinagar: NITI Aayog member V.K. Saraswat has stirred controversy with his remarks that shutdown of Internet services in Jammu and Kashmir since the dilution of Article 370 did not have any significant effect on its economy as people there only use the Internet for “watching dirty films”.
The comments, defending the suspension of Internet, drew strong reaction from trade bodies in Jammu and Kashmir which demanded his immediate removal for “maligning” the people of the Union Territory, while the Congress and the CPI(M) too hit out at Saraswat.
The NITI Aayog member made the controversial remarks in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar on Saturday after attending the convocation of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology.
“What difference does it make if there’s no Internet there? What do you watch on the Internet there? What e-tailing is happening there? Besides watching dirty films, you do nothing there,” Saraswat told reporters on a query about the suspension of Internet services in Jammu and Kashmir over five months ago, when its special status was scrapped.
“If there is no internet in Kashmir, it does not have any significant effect on the economy,” he said.
Taking to Twitter, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said it was “disappointing to see a member sitting at one of the top echelons of NITI Aayog uttering such words”, adding that it is useless to expect the revival of economy “from them”, while CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Saraswat needs to read the Indian Constitution.
Saraswat on Sunday claimed he was “quoted out of context”, but did not elaborate on what the context was. “I have also said that because of being misquoted by the media, if it has hurt the feelings of people of Kashmir or anybody for that matter, I apologise for that,” he added.
Condemning Saraswat’s remarks, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Sheikh Ashiq said it is unbecoming of a person entrusted with serious responsibilities to make such statements that “malign the population of Kashmir”.
Ashiq said the Valley is suffering due to the Internet shutdown and the losses to the business sector here have amounted to over Rs 18,000 crore.
“We at the Chamber know that our economy has been deeply affected by the suspension of internet services. Every sector of our economy has suffered a great deal. If any person says something like this, it speaks a volume about his mental capacity. He has no right to sit in the NITI Aayog,” he said.
“We condemn these remarks. They are spreading venom against the people of Kashmir. Nobody gives him the right to speak like this about the people of Jammu and Kashmir and utter this nonsense against us,” he told PTI.
The president of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Rakesh Gupta, said Saraswat should resign on moral grounds for his “baseless” utterances “defaming” the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“This man is a member of the NITI Aayog. He needs to read the Indian Constitution to update himself, and can start with the Preamble. There are numerous anti-CAA/NRC protests in every town and city across the country, and he will easily come across the Preamble in them,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted while tagging Saraswat’s remarks.
Speaking in Gandhinagar on Saturday, Saraswat had said that internet services were suspended in Jammu and Kashmir to prevent certain elements from “misusing” information that could affect law and order situation there.
“If Article 370 had to be removed, and if Kashmir had to be taken forward, we knew there were elements there which will misuse this kind of information in a manner that will affect the law and order situation,” he said.
On recent protests in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Saraswat said the institution has become a “political battleground” with half of the teachers being “hardcore Leftists”.
He called for the issues there to be resolved “democratically”.
Saraswat also said that protests like those against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and in JNU affect the economy.
“The losses are affecting the economy. We are giving people money, but there is no output from them. Government teachers are getting their dues despite the strike. What is the output… all this affects the economy,” he said.