SRINAGAR: Stating that the undemocratic measures taken by the central government are pushing the people of the state into a corner, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said that need of the hour is that the Government of India must stop this muscular policy and understand that dialogue is the only way forward.
Mehbooba while addressing workers conventions in Pattan and Sonawari stated that it was the agenda of the PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed that accorded a sigh of relief to the people of the state after 2002 elections.
She said that prior to that, dialogue with Pakistan, reconciliatory approach and pitching for peace used to be considered as a taboo within the political landscape.
She said that it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who initiated an era of reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir and laid foundation of the ideology that declares that the state must become a bridge of friendship between India and Pakistan.
The Former Chief Minister said that the previous coalition of PDP and BJP was dictated by the numbers of the election results in which both the parties were at par and forming coalition was a brave attempt to engage with the new India which is dominated by the Hindutva forces.
Mehbooba said that the PDP successfully resisted for four long years the policies of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and that it has now become visible that how the BJP is trying to divide the state, divide communities and undermine the vital institutions of the state. “One could imagine at present what havoc would the BJP have created, if it would have been left alone after the 2014 polls,” said PDP President.
Mehbooba, however, said that when there was no presence of BJP in 1996 in Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah with sixty MLAs aligned unnecessarily with the BJP with a sole objective to secure a junior ministerial berth for his son.
She added that soon after Dr Farooq joined hands with the BJP, he gave away whatever was left of state’s economic prospects in the shape of power projects to the centre. She added that Farooq Abdullah consolidated forces of official terror and patronised and promoted them while making BJP Halaal in Kashmir politics.
The PDP President Mehbooba Mufti in her address also expressed serious concern over the prevailing situation in the state and said that the repressive measures and iron fist approach are being rigorously implemented with common masses threatened, intimated and harassed by the government at large. She reiterated PDP’s stand vis-a-vis banning the socio-political and religious organisation- Jamaat-e-Islami, terming such a measure as undemocratic, unconstitutional and an attempt to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims all across.
The PDP President added that her party will remain in the forefront to oppose any move aimed at harassing, suppressing and targeting the people of state and that the policies being adopted by the central leadership towards the state are turning the already crises ridden region into a war zone.
Senior PDP leader Dr Mehboob Beg also spoke on the occasion and asked people to strengthen the PDP and support it during the coming elections by voting overwhelmingly in its favour.