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When I was Home Minister, I was afraid to go to Lal Chowk in Srinagar : Sushil Kumar Shinde

Confession of Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister in the then Congress Government

New Delhi – Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde said he was scared to visit the iconic Lal Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar during his stint as the Union home minister. While this got him a lot of publicity and people thought he was moving around without fear, he was scared throughout, he said.

SushilKumar Shinde (third from left) and others at the launch of the book ‘Five Decades of Politics’ and others

“Before I became the home minister, I visited him (educationist Vijay Dhar). I used to ask him for advice. He advised me to not roam around but to visit Lal Chowk (in Srinagar), meet people and go around Dal Lake”. He was speaking during the launch of his memoir ‘Five Decades in Politics’. On 9thSeptember at the India International Center in New Delhi he spoke. Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijay Singh and educationist Vijay Dhar were present on this occasion. Dhar was also Shinde’s adviser.

Sharad Pawar wrote Preface of this book

Shinde’s book has 240 pages and he has written on various topics of his political career in total 8 sections. Sharad Pawar has fore worded this book, while Sonia Gandhi has also given her best wishes. Sushil Kumar Shinde has dedicated this English and Hindi book on his five-decade political career to his political heir, daughter Praniti Shinde, Congress MP from Solapur.

Editorial Perspective

  • Where the Home Minister is afraid, what the general public must be feeling then ?
  • This acceptance of Shinde is an acknowledgment of Congress’s defeatist mentality during its 55 years of power ! It is the misfortune of the people to get such a Home Minister if he is not strong minded !
  • Even though the Congress has appeased the Muslims, its leaders are afraid to go to the Lal Chowk in the Muslim-majority Srinagar, this is an indication that even the Congress is not safe from the Muslims !

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