Yechury leaps to attack Niti Aayog senior's 'only watch dirty films’ take on J&K Internet

NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat in a controversial statement on Saturday claimed that the suspension of internet services in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 more than five months ago did not have a “significant effect” on the economy because it was used to only watch “dirty films”. Reacting to this, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury has slammed Saraswat and said that he "needs to read the Constitution to update himself, and can start with the Preamble."

'He needs to read the Indian Constitution'

Taking to Twitter, Yechury wrote, "This man is a member of the Niti Aayog. He needs to read the Indian Constitution to update himself and can start with the Preamble." Linking the anti-CAA protests to this, he added, "There are numerous anti-CAA/NRC protests in every town and city across the country, and he will easily come across the Preamble in them."

'What do you watch on the internet there?'

“Why do politicians want to go to Kashmir? They want to re-create the protests happening on the roads of Delhi in Kashmir. They use social media to fuel protests. What difference does it make if there’s no internet in Kashmir? What do you watch on the internet there? What e-tailing is happening there? Besides watching 'Gandi Filmein' (dirty films), you do nothing there,” he said according to ANI.

Saraswat was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual convocation at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar, where he was the chief guest. His response came on a question on why internet services had been suspended in Jammu and Kashmir when he thought telecom was vital for India’s growth.

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The Internet has been suspended since August 5 last year when the Centre scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution that had conferred special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union territories. The administration had also imposed a curfew, detained political leaders and banned all communication services. On Saturday, the Jammu and Kashmir administration restored 2G mobile data serves but that was only conditional for access to a set of 153 “white-listed” websites, in all districts of Jammu division and two districts of Kashmir division – Kupwara and Bandipora.'

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