Says consent of Hurriyat was sought before forming state govt
The BJP is facing severe criticism from its hardcore cadre and supporters after PDP president Mehbooba Mufti made the starling revelation that her party had sought “consent” from the separatist Hurriyat Conference to form the government with the saffron party.
As the social media is flooded with anti-BJP posts, party leaders have maintained guarded silence on this contentious issue. No BJP leader was ready to react on Mehbooba’s disclosure, which had landed the “nationalist” party in an embarrassing situation.
Mehbooba disclosed on Saturday that her party had sought consent from a Hurriyat faction for forming the coalition government with the right-wing party in the state.
“With Atal Bihari Vajpayee the experience was good, but forming an alliance with the present BJP was not easy for us. It took us two months to decide the agenda of alliance. The Hurriyat party was also called for getting consent on most of the issues the government was working on,” Mehbooba said while speaking at a function in Delhi on Saturday.
As the 2014 Assembly elections had thrown a fractured mandate, it took over three months for the PDP and BJP to form a coalition government in the state.
When negotiations were going on between the PDP and BJP for government formation, senior Hurriyat functionary Abdul Gani Bhat had met Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at his residence on December 31, 2014, which authenticated Mehbooba’s revelations that consent was taken from a Hurriyat faction before forming the government with the BJP.
It was for the first time that a top separatist leader had discussed government formation in Jammu and Kashmir at a time when BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav and present Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu were engaged in negotiations on behalf of their respective parties.
BJP workers and supporters have posted a numbers of posts against party leaders on social media for taking “blessings” of the Hurriyat Conference before forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Asking party leaders to come clean on the disclosure made by Mehbooba, some BJP supporters posted on social networking sites that party leaders had betrayed nationalist people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“As a meeting between PDP and Hurriyat leaders was held amid negotiations, it appears that negotiators were aware that consent was taken from the Hurriyat as well,” posted a BJP supporter on a social networking site.
Although BJP leaders maintained guarded silence, outspoken party MLA Ravinder Raina posted on social media that “not Hurriyat, but RSS was consulted on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir”.
Reacting to Raina’s argument, a BJP supporter said, “It is ridiculous to compare the Hurriyat with RSS. Hurriyat propagates separatist ideology while the RSS is a nationalist organisation,” he said.
Expelled party leader Hari Om today asked BJP leaders to tender an unconditional apology to the nation for the act of betrayal of national interest.
“Mehbooba’s revelation did not surprise the nationalist people of Jammu and Ladakh as they were already aware of the credentials of the PDP, its ideology and its stand on political status of Jammu and Kashmir, Hurriyat leaders and Pakistan,” he said.
