Govt wanted Kashmir like rest of India, ended up making India like Kashmir: Yashwant Sinha

The government had claimed of making Kashmir like the rest of India but has ended up doing otherwise, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Monday, as he slammed the Centre over what he called was its policy of "suppression".

Sinha, who had quit the BJP after being sidelined in the party he served for more than two decades, made the remarks while addressing the anti-citizenship law protestors outside Jamia Milla Islamia here.

He also said the the attack on JNU students and teachers on Sunday had left no difference in "government goons and government police", accusing police of "helping" the anti-social elements and not the innocent.

Sinha said he was part of a five-member group which had visited Kashmir amid restrictions and shutdowns there around four years ago and after talking to locals and stakeholders drafted a report for the central government with a proposal for dialogue to resolve the situation.

"Here a top level official told me that I was suggesting talks which is not the government's policy. We have a doctrine of state -- a method and ideology of running the government -- which was that anybody opposing us would be suppressed. That is the policy being followed and will be followed in Kashmir," the 82-year-old leader said.

He said he was disappointed by the government's approach then and last year also tried to go to Kashmir but was once "sent back" and on another occasion "confined to a hotel room".

"Recently when they abrogated Articles 370 and 35A to remove special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two union territories it was that same doctrine of state at work -- suppression of dissent," he claimed.

Sinha said, "Those in the government had claimed that we will make Kashmir like the rest of India. Today, after five months, Kashmir has not become like any other part of India but the rest of India has become like Kashmir."