By repealing Article 370, the BJP made suffering worse: Mehbooba Mufti

Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of the PDP, said on Monday that her party is still committed to helping to find a solution for the Kashmir dispute. She also charged that the BJP is responsible for inflicting further “pain” by repealing Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019.

The former chief minister said in an exclusive interview with PTI that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Congress intends to distribute people’s hard-earned cash and possessions to “those who have more children” and “infiltrators” is a sign that the BJP was in trouble.

“The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, and then distribute that property,” Modi said on Sunday while speaking at a rally in Banswara, Rajasthan. The administration of Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims had the first claim to the nation’s resources, thus they would give it to whoever they want.

While campaigning in her party’s stronghold of Bijbehara, Mehbooba Mufti, the PDP’s candidate for Lok Sabha from Anantnag-Rajouri, was questioned about whether the PDP had given up on its goal of achieving self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

“No,” was her response. It’s not that for us. We have said in our manifesto that we are dedicated to helping to resolve the Kashmir dispute. The BJP seeks to reposition the focus from the Kashmir dispute to Article 370, statehood to 370, and statehood to local elections. However, this won’t take place.

According to the PDP head, if a problem is not resolved, it eventually becomes painful, much like an illness. “When such a problem exists, people’s hearts and minds are still consumed by it. People may be imprisoned, but ideologies cannot. You have to deal with it the way Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) did, by paving the way, facilitating talks with Pakistan and separatists, and causing progress.

Mehbooba Mufti claimed that people could see that something was occurring in relation to the Kashmir problem. “You can’t grab someone by the throat and say nothing is wrong. agony persists until a solution is found, and agony cannot be eliminated by keeping someone’s mouth shut. You have added to the misery (‘takleef’) of the Jammu and Kashmir situation by repealing Article 370, the woman said.

“How can you make it irrelevant?” the PDP head said when asked whether Pakistan was still important in relation to Kashmir. They are the closest neighbors to you in terms of geography. Furthermore, history cannot be altered. With Pakistan, we have a history. Geographically, we are also connected to Pakistan; a portion of Jammu and Kashmir still exists there.

Mufti responded to the accusations that the PDP was attempting to take over the space left by the Hurriyat Conference by pointing out that there is a tendency to portray anybody who discusses the concerns of Jammu and Kashmir and its people as anti-national.

“It is common knowledge that the separatists want to split Jammu and Kashmir apart from the rest of the nation. Our position is that the Indian Constitution requires that the Jammu and Kashmir (problem) be resolved. As Vajpayee had said, let’s open the highways, deal with the problem, and establish an advisory council that would convene twice a year to oversee both Jammu and Kashmir.

She suggested that payment for the power projects should go to Jammu and Kashmir. “You provide free power to the whole nation, but in Jammu and Kashmir, you have raised the rate ten times. Why? Our energy is the cause. Here are a few examples of these problems. Our ancient “silk route” pathways, which connected Central and South Asia, have to be reconnected in order to revitalize Jammu and Kashmir as a trading center and provide future opportunities for the younger generation.

“These problems are still relevant to us; we haven’t let them go. Inmates in Jammu and Kashmir’s prisons spend years without being given a chance to stand trial, and they are deprived of seeing their families. The people there are now suffocating. It is necessary to have someone to discuss them with. The NIA, ED, or IT conduct raids into Jammu and Kashmir on a daily basis. Our company is in ruins. Who is going to discuss these?” She enquired.

Regarding the BJP’s slogan for the Lok Sabha elections, “abki baar 400 paar” (this time, above 400 seats), Mehbooba Mufti said that if that were the case, the party would not have brought up the subject of eating non-vegetarian food during Navratri. “They now claim that Muslims will get even your mangalsutra. I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a national environment,” the speaker said, adding that people have realized that defeating the BJP is necessary to safeguard the nation and its Constitution (“chutti karni padegi”). If not, our nation won’t exist at all,” she said.

Menbooba Mufti began her political career with the Congress in the mid-1990s. She said that while running against a National Conference candidate who has the backing of the opposition alliance, her party is still a member of the INDIA bloc.

We are not separated. We think that the coalition, led by Rahul Gandhi, is waging a great war, and we believe in the India bloc. In order to preserve the nation’s secularism, the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, and the Constitution, for which the people of Jammu and Kashmir have vowed allegiance to our nation, we must stand behind him,” she said.