Do not cede space to BJP, says Mehbooba Mufti while urging youth in J-K to participate in polls

Srinagar, Nov. 27 (PTI): PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday urged youths in Jammu and Kashmir to participate in future civic and assembly elections, saying it is their ”weapon” to fight for their rights and they should not cede space to the BJP.

“It is not BJP’s India and, note it down, we will not let it become BJP’s India,” Mufti said at a party function here.

The former J-K chief minister also warned the Centre not to behave “like those raiders from Pakistan who came to the valley in 1947” and were forced to flee by Kashmiris.

“India is not BJP. India which we joined is Jawaharlal Nehru’s India, (M K) Gandhi ji’s India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s India. It is India of Rahul Gandhi who is travelling the country for Hindu-Muslim unity, it is Tushar Gandhi’s India,” Mufti said.

She again lashed out at the BJP for the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019.

“We have formed a bond of heart with this country, the constitutional bond, the bond of love, but what did you do? You played with our dignity, our identity. You destroyed the whole state. This will not work,” she said.

Mufti said the people of Kashmir were questioning the accession to India due to the current situation in the country.

“Kashmiris question us which country did they accede to?… But, I want to tell them that Kashmiris acceded to that India which Gandhi’s grandson Tushar and Nehru’s great-grandson Rahul are searching for in different corners of the country. I am talking about India formed by Nehru and Gandhi together, India where there was Hindu-Muslim unity, secularism, peoples’ rights,” she said.

The former CM asked the youth not to cede space to the BJP.

“If panchayat elections or municipal elections take place, I want to tell the youths especially not to cede space to them,” she said.

Mufti said local bodies or assembly was a power in the hands of the youth and they should not leave it to someone else.

“If you want to fight, this is your small as well as big weapon. Panchayats, local bodies or assembly are the weapons in your hands, power in your hands and you should not leave it for someone else,” she said.

The PDP chief vowed to continue the struggle for the restoration of J-K’s special status, saying everything taken from the people of J-K will be brought back along with interest. She asked the people not to lose hope.

The PDP chief said the people of J-K were bearing the “brunt of the gun from both sides”.

“J-K is going through difficult times. I know there is too much unemployment, but our life has become an agony. Youths are being arrested. On one hand, militants kill us in the name of informers. They kill our policemen, Kashmiri Pandits or those who come from outside.

“But, on the other hand, our own country’s gun is killing the youth here in the name of hybrid militant, white-collared militant,” she said.