Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, an old video of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor admitting to his party rigging 1987 poll results in the erstwhile State has gone viral on social media.
In a video shared by popular political commentator Anand Ranganathan, Shashi Tharoor was seen conceding that fixing the elections in 1987 was a ‘big mistake’.
The contentious video clip is part of a 26-minute-long interview of journalist Tim Sebastian with Shashi Tharoor. It was published on the YouTube channel of DW News on 29th March 2017.
Congress comprehensively rigged the 1987 Jammu & Kashmir elections through ballot stuffing, arrests, curfews, even declaring defeated candidates as winners. Here is Shashi Tharoor himself admitting to the rigging.
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) May 21, 2024
These are the same people who accuse others of killing Democracy. pic.twitter.com/rwMPVxkgai
At about 22 minutes into the interview, Shashi Tharoor was heard saying, “I am proud of the fact that free and fair elections have been held despite an ongoing…”
Tim Sebastian intervened, “You had rigged elections. The interlocutors reported that.” The Congress MP from Kerala could not help but concede, “One election rigged in 1987, that’s what they’re referring to.”
On being further pressed about the matter, Shashi Tharoor emphasised, “There have been none since then and no one has suggested that.
There have been international observers, even the militant parties have not accused these elections of being wrong.”
He further added, “I am telling you that the elections of 87 were a huge mistake and they were rigged undoubtedly and undoubtedly this was certainly one of the mistakes that sparked off the disillusionment of some young people who then became militants.”
The 1987 Vidhan Sabha elections in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir were rigged jointly by Congress and its ally the National Conference (NC) to prevent the Muslim United Front (MUF) from coming to power.
The Congress-NC duo worked in tandem and altered the election results through manipulation of votes, and arbitrary arrests of Opposition political leaders. The fixed election is believed to have given rise to Islamic terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.
While speaking about the matter in April this year, People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone remarked, “It was said that guns came here because of Article 370. The reality is that the gun did not come because of Article 370, it came in 1987 after the rigged elections, while Article 370 was there from 1950 onwards“
The video clip of Shashi Tharoor’s acknowledgement of Congress’ sins has gone viral when the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing political stability, negligent insurgency and record turnout of voters. For instance, the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in the Kashmir Valley saw a voter turnout of 59% during the 5th phase of elections.
