Rahul Gandhi interviews Satya Pal Malik, asks him about Pulwama, Adani and Manipur

Malik alleged that the CRPF soldiers had asked for five aircraft, which was rejected by the Home Ministry. “Their application was lying in the Home Ministry for four months,” said Malik, adding that it was rejected after 4 months, forcing the personnel to travel via road.

The former J&K governor also claimed that both Prime Minister Modi and Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor of India, told him to refrain from talking about the issue. “Besides this, the vehicle which rammed into the CRPF bus was roaming there for 10 days before the incident. It was full of explosives,” Malik said.

Malik further stated that Jammu and Kashmir cannot be managed by force or an army. “You can do anything by winning over the people there,” he said. Malik also said that the residents of J&K were hurt more when their statehood was taken away than by the abrogation of Article 370. He suggested that Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood should be returned immediately and elections must be held.

Malik also weighed in on the ongoing ethnic strife in Manipur and pointed out the government failure in the state. “Neither the Chief Minister can go there nor can he do anything. Yet, he has not been removed,” he said.

Besides the Pulwama incident, Malik also talked about the farmers agitation and identified the immediate implementation of Minimum Support Price as a solution for the farmers’ problem. He said that the government had promised the implementation of MSP when the farm law were repealed but still had not acted on it.

“Because Adani built large godowns and purchased crops at a set price. Next year, their prices will increase and he will sell it,” Malik alleged, adding that MSP would not have allowed farmers to sell at low prices.