Satyapal Malik interview: Opposition questions Centre's silence on former J-K Governor's 'revelations'

Several voices in the opposition have been calling on the government to clear the air on ‘revelations’ made by former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik in a recent interview. Malik has claimed in an interview that there were lapses in security protocol during the February 2019 Pulwama attack where 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives. There has been no reaction from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government since Malik’s interview was released on YouTube on Friday. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP) cited various statements by him and said that there were serious questions about the former J-K governor’s credibility.

Clamour for the government to “come clean” has been growing louder among opposition parties. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into Malik's statement regarding the Pulwama attack. She claimed it was the “Centre's fault that we have lost the lives of our jawans.” 

Meanwhile, Congress on Sunday had demanded that the Centre reveal the outcome of the probe into the Pulwama attack. It also has asked for an answer on why the paramilitary personnel were “denied” aircraft and transported by road despite a terror threat, as Malik has claimed in the interview. The Congress also accused the government of ‘headline manipulation’ to divert attention from the former J-K guv’s allegations, in an apparent reference to the narrative around the gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf’s sensational murder.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti claimed that the gangster-politician’s killing is a “big scandal” to divert attention from allegations levelled by Malik. “They raised fingers on it. This big scandal was engineered to divert attention from allegations levelled by Satyapal Malik,” Mehbooba said. NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the government doesn’t have the right to be in power if it is not protecting soldiers. Pawar said that “if the government is taking a stand not to protect soldiers, then we all have to take a stand that the government does not have the right to remain in power, and for that, the next elections are important”.

While the Centre has refrained from reacting to Malik’s interview so far, the BJP has questioned Malik's credibility. The party cited former J-K guv’s past comment calling Rahul Gandhi "political juvenile". BJP's I-T department head Amit Malviya on Saturday tweeted an old remark of Malik, praising PM Modi as the "best PM" for Jammu and Kashmir. Hitting out at his “U-turn”, the BJP called Malik the “disgraced governor of Jammu and Kashmir”. Maviya also shared a clip from the interview where Malil had withdrawn a controversial statement he claimed was made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Malviya said Malik admitted to “lying and making up baseless stories on what Home Minister Amit Shah had said about Prime Minister Modi".

(Inputs from PTI)