Former CM Mehbooba Mufti said if the Abdullah family had implemented the agenda of Pakistan then Jammu and Kashmir would not have been a part of India but a part of Pak or a free territory
In a rare defence of rival National Conference (NC) leaders, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti snubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about the NC-Congress alliance “implementing Pakistan’s agenda” in Jammu and Kashmir.
The former CM said had the Abdullah family implemented the agenda of Pakistan, then the region would not have been a part of India.
Notably, Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif’s statement on the Congress and the NC’s support for Article 370 and 35A had triggered a political row on Thursday, as the PM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the two parties for being on the “same page” with the neighbouring country.
Mufti, while addressing media persons, lashed out at the BJP, saying the saffron party had pleaded for support from both the Abdullah and the Mufti family when it needed them.
“If the Abdullah family had implemented the agenda of Pakistan then Jammu and Kashmir would not have been a part of India but a part of Pakistan or ‘azad (a free territory)’,” she added.
Notably, the BJP has in the past been aligned with both the NC and the PDP. While Omar Abdullah became the youngest Union minister in the BJP-led government in 2001, the saffron party had also formed a coalition government with the PDP after the 2014 assembly elections.
Earlier, the NC president Farooq Abdullah had also castigated the BJP and PM’s remarks, saying, “We never implemented Pakistan’s agenda. They [the BJP] are running Pakistan’s agenda who are making allegations against us. They are Pakistan’s agents. Didn’t they let them go who would utter ‘Pakistan, Pakistan’… Those who brought money from Pakistan, aren’t they standing with them?”
Mufti, meanwhile, also took a jibe at the NC, saying that the BJP should be thankful to the Abdullah family because Omar Abdullah “implemented their agenda here, when he was a minister”.
“As far as Mehbooba Mufti, PDP and Mufti family is concerned, Modi ji must remember that their people waited outside our doors for, first, two months and then three months. They pleaded for a government and were ready for any condition. We put conditions – there should be no tinkering with Art 370, opening of roads, AFSPA revocation and talks with Pakistan and Hurriyat for which they also sent a big delegation,” she said.
Omar responded to Mufti’s statement, saying that the NC never brought BJP into Jammu and Kashmir despite being part of NDA.
“I would like to tell Mehbooba Mufti that we were part of the NDA. However, we never let BJP enter J&K. Despite being part of NDA, we didn’t let BJP win Jammu’s Parliamentary seat,” Omar told a news agency. Source
