Interview : "40 valuable soldiers were sacrificed. That was because of our mistakes. I was told, "You need to be quiet about this." Our PM doesn't have a high aversion to corruption. He's a very ill-informed person. It was a great, great tragedy..."
Hello, friends!
Generally, when a senior politician like him makes an exposé into a significant incident like this, or such explosive statements it is played by the media throughout the day. But our mainstream media and TV channels almost blacked out his statements. Didn’t even talk about it. Our anchors on the TV channels, Who label themselves as patriots and nationalists, Do not care about our soldiers. But it is important to talk about it because This issue relates to our national security, And the lives of our soldiers.
Come, let’s try to understand it in this article.
Satyapal Malik’s first interview was with Prashant Tandon on his YouTube channel. Followed by an interview with Senior journalist Karan Thapar And then with Ravish Kumar. Mainly, in these interviews, three of his statements stood out prominently.
First,
he claimed that in the Pulwama attack, the Pakistani government was definitely involved, But the negligence of the government's machinery cannot be ignored. He claims that when he asked PM Modi and NSA Ajit Doval about this,
Second,
he claimed that PM Modi is ill-informed and ignorant about Kashmir.
And third,
he claimed that PM Modi isn’t as hostile towards corruption as depicted.
Come, let’s look at the story from the beginning. Let’s try to understand the situation since 2014. In 2014, Lok Sabha elections were held in which Bhartiya Janta Party won resoundingly. A major point in their manifesto was the abrogation of Article 370. A few months later, in December 2014, elections were held in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. There were 2 major local political parties. PDP or the People’s Democratic Party.
With Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti as the main contenders. And the NC or the National Conference. With
This was a strange alliance because On many issues, the ideologies of both parties were in stark contrast. Even so, for the collation, they brought forward a document, The Agenda of the Alliance. Several points of common ground were listed on it. Such as relating to development. Both parties were in agreement about the hydropower projects. Another common point was the AFSPA The Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Both parties agreed that it needed to be reviewed. As for Article 370, it was said that the present position would be maintained on all the constitutional provisions. As per this alliance, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn in as the Chief Minister. However, he passed away in January 2016, After which Governor’s rule had to be imposed on J&K yet again. BJP and PDP went in for another round of consultations, And in April 2016,
Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the new CM. The first woman CM in the history of J&K. Moving forward 2 years, in June 2018, she was forced to resign from the CM’s position, after BJP withdrew its support from this collation. And a letter was written to the then-Governor N N Vohra expressing the same. BJP’s J&K in-charge, 
Ram Madhav said that it had become "untenable" for the party to continue the coalition. And another Governor’s rule followed.
In August 2018, entered the main character of our story.
Satyapal Malik became the next Governor of J&K. In November 2018, Mehbooba Mufti tweeted that she had garnered the support of 56 MLAs including 12 MLAs from Congress and 15 from the National Conference. On the other hand, her rival Sajjad Lone of the People’s Conference who had 2 MLAs also claimed that he too had the support of requisite MLAs to form the government. That they had the BJP’s support and that of an additional 18 lawmakers.
So who would form the government?
Governor Satyapal Malik decided to dissolve the state assembly. He is highly criticised for this. He replied by saying that governments aren’t formed on social media. Mehbooba Mufti claims that she tried to call the Governor, to fax her letter to the Governor, but all attempts failed. Satyapal Malik acknowledged this by saying that since it was around Eid, fax operators to the cooks, everyone was on leave. He went on to say that even if he had received the fax in time, he wouldn’t have changed his decision Because he had received reports of horse-trading. It was a terrible situation. 
Alok Prasanna Kumar wrote for Scroll.in that the Governor’s decision was unconstitutional. He quotes Supreme Court judgements from several cases. Where the SC held that the Governor cannot dissolve the State Assembly for any reason unless it is proven without a doubt that it is impossible to form a government. In the recent interview, Karan Thapar grilled Satyapal Malik for this decision. Karan claims that not only was this unconstitutional, It was also the worst mistake that any Governor could have made. Satyapal Malik reiterated his arguments in this interview that he didn’t receive the fax or calls, and allegedly, Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah were asking him to dissolve the assembly.
Interview : "You ended up dissolving an assembly which was viable and which could have formed a majority government. That is not only unconstitutional, it's the worst mistake a governor can make. And yet, you did it. Farooq and Mehbooba, were telling me constantly for a week, to dissolve the assembly. Because their MLAs were being bribed."
In December 2018, the governor’s rule expired after 6 months, And as per the rule, J&K was taken under President’s Rule. The last President’s Rule on J&K was 22 years before this. To be under the President’s Rule basically meant that the State of J&K was under Central Government’s rule. Two months after this happened, on 14th February 2019, the Pulwama attack took place.
The story of pulwama
A Maruti Eeco car carrying more than 300kg of explosives, hit a CRPF convoy bus. Leading to the death of 40 CRPF soldiers. An internal inquiry was conducted in CRPF, To look for the security lapses due to which this attack couldn't be prevented. According to the sources, in this inquiry, it was found that Though there were several inputs about IED attacks, nothing specific was shared regarding this convoy. The Frontline newspaper conducted a 1-year long investigation into it. They found that there were at least 11 intelligence inputs between 2nd January 2019 and 13th February 2019. 
They warned of an "imminent ghastly attack". A disastrous attack was going to take place soon. The agencies were aware of Jaish-e-Mohammad’s (JeM) terror commander Mudasir Ahmed Khan. He was later identified as the mastermind of the Pulwama attack. He was working along with four foreign mercenaries on a “major fidayeen attack in coming days”. They even had info on the villages Mudasir Ahmed Khan visited in the last weeks of January 2019. In April 2019, The Quint got access to confidential communication that discussed this. On 24th January, an officer of Jammu & Kashmir CID had written a letter to his senior officers informing them about 2-3 foreign JeM terrorists visiting Mudasir Ahmed Khan to plan for a special attack. The official communication was radioed to the police and paramilitary forces calling for a high alert. And asked for sanitization of the highway and a special deployment of troops. An attack seemed imminent. In this situation, an unusually long convoy of 78 vehicles Carrying more than 2,500 CRPF personnel was travelling by road from Jammu to Srinagar. Satyapal Malik told Karan Thapar that a convoy this large doesn’t travel by road. So the CRPF asked the Home Ministry for 5 airplanes. But the home ministry refused to sanction the airplanes. Additionally, he reports that the highway route wasn’t even sanitized properly. By sanitizing, they do not mean scrubbing the road with sanitisers, It’s the term for ensuring that the road was safe and secure. Since so many military personnel were supposed to travel by it. There were 8-10 link roads on this route. According to Satyapal Malik, there should have been gipsies on each link road. It should've been manned. So that no one could get on these roads. But none of this was done.
They warned of an "imminent ghastly attack". A disastrous attack was going to take place soon. The agencies were aware of Jaish-e-Mohammad’s (JeM) terror commander Mudasir Ahmed Khan. He was later identified as the mastermind of the Pulwama attack. He was working along with four foreign mercenaries on a “major fidayeen attack in coming days”. They even had info on the villages Mudasir Ahmed Khan visited in the last weeks of January 2019. In April 2019, The Quint got access to confidential communication that discussed this. On 24th January, an officer of Jammu & Kashmir CID had written a letter to his senior officers informing them about 2-3 foreign JeM terrorists visiting Mudasir Ahmed Khan to plan for a special attack. The official communication was radioed to the police and paramilitary forces calling for a high alert. And asked for sanitization of the highway and a special deployment of troops. An attack seemed imminent. In this situation, an unusually long convoy of 78 vehicles Carrying more than 2,500 CRPF personnel was travelling by road from Jammu to Srinagar. Satyapal Malik told Karan Thapar that a convoy this large doesn’t travel by road. So the CRPF asked the Home Ministry for 5 airplanes. But the home ministry refused to sanction the airplanes. Additionally, he reports that the highway route wasn’t even sanitized properly. By sanitizing, they do not mean scrubbing the road with sanitisers, It’s the term for ensuring that the road was safe and secure. Since so many military personnel were supposed to travel by it. There were 8-10 link roads on this route. According to Satyapal Malik, there should have been gipsies on each link road. It should've been manned. So that no one could get on these roads. But none of this was done.
interview : "-All the link roads were unmanned? -Unmanned all of them, almost... -How many link roads were there? -Around 8-10. -8 or 9 link roads were unmanned? -Unmanned."
Satyapal Malik claims to have told PM Modi all this, About how the incident could have been averted had the airplanes been sanctioned.
Satyapal Malik : "And I told it to the Prime Minister the same evening, that it was a result of our mistakes had we sanctioned the aircrafts it wouldn't have happened. So he told me to remain silent for the time being."
Satyapal Malik also claims to have informed National Security Advisor Ajit Dovaal. But both of them told him to remain quiet. After this, Satyapal Malik made even more shocking claims. I’ll quote his exact words. “I can tell you that I understood that the onus was to be on Pakistan alone, and so I had to be silent.” Karan Thapar then asks if it was the government’s clever plan to shift the blame entirely on Pakistan so that the government could benefit from it in the next elections. Satyapal Malik replied, “Exactly.” This reminds me of Rahat Indori’s words, “Are there high tensions on the border? Check if the elections are around the corner.” Satyapal Malik opines that Pakistan was definitely involved in it because explosives in that quantity could not have been sourced internally in India. But he also claims that it was our failure that a vehicle carrying the explosives were in the country for 10-12 days and we couldn’t locate it. Back then, the Home Minister was Rajnath Singh, and Satyapal Malik claims that had he been the Home Minister, he would’ve resigned, Because it was his incompetence due to which 40 soldiers were martyred.
In March 2019,
Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav openly accused PM Modi. He claimed that the paramilitary forces were disappointed with the government, Soldiers were sacrificed to get votes. That there wasn’t sufficient checking between Jammu and Srinagar, And that the soldiers had to travel by simple buses. He called it a conspiracy. The same month, the Election Commission directed all political parties against using defence forces’ actions for political propaganda. Especially during the Lok Sabha political campaigns. On 1st April 2019, April Fool’s Day, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Adityanath was holding a rally. In this army, he referred to the Indian Army as ‘Modi’s Army.’
Adityanath : "Under Congress' rule, terrorists were fed biryani, But Modi's Army, shoots terrorists and blows them up. That's the difference." This comment was objected to by not only the opposition parties but several retired defence officers too. Even BJP politician Retd. Gen V.K.Singh said, “If someone claims that Indian Army is Modi’s Army, Not only is he wrong, but also a traitor.”
Gen V.K.Singh : “If someone claims that Indian Army is Modi’s Army, Not only is he wrong, but also a traitor. The Indian Army belongs to India. Not to any political party."
And what did PM Modi say in his campaign a week later?
PM Modi :"Can your first vote, be dedicated to the brave soldiers who carried out airstrikes in Pakistan's Balakot? I want to address the first time voters, that your first vote can it be dedicated to the brave soldiers who were martyred in Pulwama?" Many people objected to this, but anyway, let’s get back to our storyline, Narendra Modi and BJP won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In July 2019, the President’s Rule imposed on J&K, Was extended for another 6 months. The next month, on 5th August 2019, Article 370 was abrogated. "Anything provided in Article 370 will not be applicable." It was understandable when the separatists were detained, But even the political leaders who were participating in the democratic process for a long time, Former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were put under house arrest. Under the speculation that they might disturb the public atmosphere. Over the next 4-5 days, Section 144 was imposed on Srinagar. High-speed mobile internet was shut down for the next 18 months. Satyapal Malik justified these in the interview saying that Pakistan could have used the internet against us. In response, Karan Thapar pointed out that "Because of Pakistan's threat, you cut off Kashmir from the rest of India." Two days before the abrogation of Article 370, Satyapal Malik assured ANI that it wouldn’t happen. Because even as a Governor, he wasn’t aware of it, until it happened. "It's normal, only rumour-mongering is going on, It's a very routine thing here." "A momentous decision was being made the Governor was given neither 2 months' prior information nor 2 days'. But the President's Order stated that the Governor's approval had been granted. Now, only Satyapal Malik's constitutional conscience can tell us if it was correct." He says that he knew Article 370 would be repealed someday because it was on PM Modi’s agenda, But when it was actually repealed, he was informed by neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister. He received the information on the eve of the repeal, over a call from the Home Minister, where he was simply told that a letter was being sent to him and he needed to get it authorised by the Committee before 11 AM. Satyapal Malik clearly expressed that he was in favour of Article 370 being repealed. Even back then, 3 years ago, when he was interviewed by ABP Ganga, he had said that the abrogation of Article 370 will bring about development in Kashmir, and that it would be beneficial for the entire nation. It would create new jobs. Youth would get employment. He favoured the division of the state as well, Of making Ladakh a separate state. But at the same time, he opposed demoting J&K from statehood to a Union Territory. He claims that the Central Government was afraid that there might be a revolt and so they wanted to have the state police under their control. But had Malik been asked, this fear was unfounded. Had the Central Government asked him, he wouldn’t have suggested this course of action. Satyapal Malik said that Prime Minister Modi is a very ill-informed man. He doesn’t know much. "I don't have the same opinion about PM Modi as the world has. There are so many things like whenever I met him, he's a very ill-informed person. He doesn't know anything. -Ill-informed? -Ill-informed about Kashmir. Whenever I talked to him, his information level was beyond sub-par." As an example, he said that PM Modi doesn’t know about the real situation and the real problems in Kashmir. "The way we act, does not invite others to trust us." He gives the example of when he supported a football team there. How he gave the team ₹10 million and asked a bank to provide another ₹10 million, and the team went on to become one of the Top 3 teams in the country. More than 20,000 boys came to watch a match. And that even some separatists supported this step. Satyapal Malik claims that we need to give them balls before they pick up stones. So he identified playgrounds in several villages, So that the focus of the people could be shifted towards sports. Here Karan Thapar asked if Malik was on such good terms with the Kashmiri people, the Central Government could have used him for the negotiations. Malik claims that the government simply wasn’t interested. Satyapal Malik made another major statement about corruption. He said that while he was in Kashmir, Reliance Insurance wanted to introduce an insurance scheme in Kashmir. Ram Madhav, BJP's former National General Secretary, Came to meet him at 7AM to get it authorised. But the government employees weren’t happy with this, Because it meant that they had to pay ₹8,500 a year towards the scheme. Whereas no such amount was to be paid under Delhi’s CGHS. Another reason was that 5-6 hospitals that were chosen for the scheme were apparently terribly pathetic according to him. So he cancelled this scheme. In the interview, he claims that though Ram Madhav didn’t try to bribe him for this, he heard the rumours that each scheme involved nearly ₹1.5 billion. And had it approved them, he could’ve received up to ₹3 billion. Satyapal Malik said the same thing last year as well, that officers at the secretary level in both departments offered up to ₹1.5 billion to approve each file. To which he always responded that he would return with the 5 sets of outfits he had brought with him. When Karan Thapar asked if PM Modi was involved in these corruption scams. Satyapal Malik had this to say. "Was he also involved? No, he was not involved. But I can tell you this I can safely say that our Prime Minister is not very averse to corruption." To prove his point, Satyapal gave another example from when he was Goa’s Governor. One day he called PM Modi to complain about corruption. On the third day, PM Modi called him back to say that Malik’s information was wrong. When Satyapal asked for the source of information, a man was named. Satyapal claimed that the man was exchanging bribes at Chief Minister’s home. Within a week, Satyapal was transferred from Goa. "Its proof is when I complained to him from Goa specifying about low-level corruption, he called me on the third day to say, "Satyapal, your information was wrong." I asked how he verified it. He named a person whom he asked to verify the information. I told him the same person was taking money from the Chief Minister's residence." He listed several examples of corruption scams, where even though he informed the Prime Minister, no action was taken on it. Last month the Supreme Court held that Vice Chancellors should be appointed by the President of India. Based on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. Satyapal claims that Governors should be similarly chosen. Because in his opinion, many undeserving people are now Governors. He said that over the last 2 years, several Vice Chancellors have been appointed in the Central Universities, And all of them are connected to RSS without any exception. In his opinion, most of them do not even deserve to be principals of colleges. These are severe allegations. Explosive exposés have been made.
How did BJP and PM Modi respond to this?
PM Modi’s response was absolute silence. Had there been anything, I would’ve definitely told you about it, but there has been no response from him. PM Modi used the same tactic for the Adani issue as well. Absolute silence. He had nothing to say about Adani. BJP did respond a little. BJP’s Kashmir spokesperson said that with age, Satyapal Malik is losing his memories and that he needs to be moved into a psychiatric hospital. BJP’s IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya responded by showing a video in which Satyapal Malik was criticising Rahul Gandhi. Calling Rahul Gandhi a political juvenile, and asking Congress not to be very excited. But Satyapal Malik still stands by his statements. His security has been downgraded to only 1 soldier. He says that he isn’t scared. He says that all the agencies can raid him, but they will find nothing. He isn’t afraid of going to jail. No one can kill him. Because he is speaking the truth. Or so he says. What do you think, friends? Let us know in the comments. And I’ll see you in the next article. Thank you very much!
