‘BJP’s J&K policy a failure’: Mehbooba says party’s agenda of alliance offers respectable solutions

The former chief minister strongly advocated a dialogue, firstly with the people of J&K and then taking it on a higher pedestal with Pakistan

Claiming that BJP’s policy for J&K was an utter failure, the president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti, on Saturday, said that saffron party should implement “agenda of alliance” that was reached between PDP and BJP in 2015 when they formed a coalition government in Union territory.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti (PTI)

Addressing media here, Mufti said, “The situation in J&K has deteriorated badly under BJP. Earlier, people talked about issues..today they are silent but a volcano is boiling deep inside. Today, a small country Pakistan is competing against India..see their economy, not tenth of ours, their army and population..why? Because you (BJP) have shunned the policy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and has adopted the policy of Nathuram Godse,” she said.

The former chief minister strongly advocated a dialogue, firstly with the people of J&K and then taking it on a higher pedestal with Pakistan.

“There is still time and scope to implement “agenda of alliance” that late Mufti Sahib reached with the BJP. It was an agenda of alliance of the people of J&K and this nation,” she said.

She recalled how her father advocated opening border routes like Kargil-Skardu, Sialkot-Suchetgarh and other routes with Pakistan in a bid to make borders soft and encourage people to people contact. “My father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Sahib had a vision for J&K, and had formed a common minimum programme with the Congress when it formed the government in alliance with the BJP in 2002.

“After that, we worked out an agenda of alliance with the BJP and the only purpose behind it was to bail J&K out of the morasses,” she said. “The agenda of alliance talked about opening cross-border roads so that caged J&K could be opened. It was for the transfer of power projects, removal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and other measures to bring peace and progress to the region. What you (BJP) do? You separated Ladakh after bifurcating the state into two UTs. That was the day when J&K was ruined on the pretext of improving the situation and restoring peace,” she said.

Mufti claimed that since August 5, 2019, the situation has deteriorated, especially across Jammu region.

“In the last six years, crime graph has gone up in Jammu because criminals have come here. Livelihood of the people of Jammu are being snatched...mines, jobs, everything is being given to the outsiders,” she said while recalling that people of J&K were promised “rivers of milk and honey,” she said.

“J&K continue to be the flashpoint between India and Pakistan with clouds of war hovering over the region,” she said.

The PDP chief claimed that BJP has also realised that stern policy in Kashmir has not brought any positive change.

“In fact, this approach has pushed J&K further back. I appeal to the government to relook into the agenda of alliance and implement it,” she said.

The PDP leader also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys authority like his predecessors Indira Gandhi and Vajpayee, and he should adopt a humanitarian approach rather than using J&K as a “vote bank”.