The Prime Minister: “We are not scared of anyone—certainly not of China”.
Plebiscite Front
About the possibility of the Government reconsidering the question of a ban on the Plebiscite Front in view of the recent judgment of the one-man tribunal clearing the party of communal bias, Mrs. Gandhi said the question did not arise because the points about the front raised by the Government had been upheld and the ban confirmed.
A reporter asked why a similar ban had not been imposed on other parties in the state which had also been preaching secession notably the pro-Pakistani Awamy Action Committee, headed by Mirwaiz Maulana Farooq.
She said she did not quit know about that but it appeared in such cases it was not so much the question of someone saying something but what really mattered was what they were doing.
The Prime Minister was pained to note the “false propaganda” being done in Kashmir on Bangladesh by a section of the local Press. She was particularly critical of an article appearing in a local journal purporting to draw comparison between the situation in Bangladesh and Kashmir and bracketing Gen. Yahya Khan with the Chief Minister Mr. G.M. Sadiq.
She said: “It is so preposterous for anyone to compare things in this manner—there must be either something very wrong with that person or it is deliberate mischief-or both”.
Describing her visit to Gurez and Tanghdar as most useful, she said Kashmir had progressed much. But the pace of progress had yet to be accelerated to gain full advantage of planned economy. Many schemes were underway which would generate employment opportunities for educated youth, she said.
Mrs. Gandhi said Kashmir could not be compared with Pakistan as it had achieved economic progress while the people in Pakistan were fed on false propaganda and denied liberties.
Asked whether the Government had been able to control the “Naxalite menace” in the country, Mrs. Gandhi answered: “Not entirely. The problem still exists”.
On the progress of her Government’s plans to fulfill the promise of “gharbi hatao” to the electorate, Mrs. Gandhi said several steps had been taken in that direction and many were still in hand. The process beginning with such measure as bank nationalization was continuing.
