Time not right for India to hold talks with Pakistan, says Jyotiraditya Scindia

India should not hold talks with Pakistan at this point of time as the neighbouring country has not created the right environment for it, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday. Speaking at the India Today Conclave here, he said though talks may help ease the current stand-off, Pakistan has to first create an environment conducive for it.

“There has to be a sustainable environment for dialogue to happen. I have firmly believed that there has to be an environment that is created that will allow dialogue to happen.

“Is that environment there today, my answer to that is unequivocally no. If you ask me the philosophical question that can this be resolved without a dialogue, the answer is that is also an unequivocal no. But the first has to follow for the second to happen. Today, has Pakistan created that environment, absolutely not,” he said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan soared after India carried out a preemptive air strike against terrorist camps in Pakistan earlier this week, days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14. A day after India’s preemptive strike, Pakistan Air Force jets intruded Indian airspace in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to a dogfight.

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On the domestic front, Scindia said he disagreed with the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the ability to sway the public opinion in his favour. He said the Congress party is going to polls on the core issues that confront the public. These issues, he said, are plurality, institutions, tolerance levels and economic issues—be it concerning farmers, women or youths.

“The promises that Narendra Modi made in 2014 have not been delivered,” he said, adding that there are two types of governments - “one that over-promises but under-delivers, the other is that under-promises but over-delivers. I prefer the latter one”.

He also said that the Congress looks at Uttar Pradesh as an opportunity and that the state has miles to go as far as development is concerned.

Scindia was recently appointed the Congress general secretary in-charge of western Uttar Pradesh. He said the difference between UPA-2 under Manmohan Singh and the present regime is that, “under the Modi government, the situation is such that there is a tolerance towards intolerance.”

“The atmosphere of intolerance has got heightened under the Modi government. Look where we have reached. What has the government done,” he said, referring to the cases of mob lynching and cow vigilantism in the country.