Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ravinder Raina on Tuesday accused People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti of “poisoning young minds” to propel her political prospects.
His remark came after she posted a video on Twitter on Monday in which school staff were seen asking students to recite famous devotional song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ in Kashmir, terming it as the government’s real “Hindutva agenda”.
“Jailing religious scholars, shutting down Jama Masjid & directing school kids to sing Hindu hymns exposes the real hindutva agenda of GOI in Kashmir,” she said in the tweet. “Refusing these rabid dictates invites PSA & UAPA. It is the cost that we are paying for this so called ‘Badalta J&K,’” she added.
Reacting to her remarks, Raina said she should avoid playing such politics by “poisoning the young minds”.
Also Read |‘Real Hindutva agenda’: Mehbooba attacks centre over hymn in Kashmir school
“During freedom struggle Gandhi ji united the entire nation with this song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. Usually this song is sung at morning assembly in various schools and similarly ‘Lab pae ati hai dua ban ke tammna meri’. but none objected to them. Now, kicking up a dispute is nothing but poisoning tender minds of small children. Since Mehbooba Mufti has lost her ground in Kashmir and people of Kashmir have rejected her, she keeps engineering such propaganda. India belongs to everyone-- Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and others,” said Raina.
{{/usCountry}}“During freedom struggle Gandhi ji united the entire nation with this song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. Usually this song is sung at morning assembly in various schools and similarly ‘Lab pae ati hai dua ban ke tammna meri’. but none objected to them. Now, kicking up a dispute is nothing but poisoning tender minds of small children. Since Mehbooba Mufti has lost her ground in Kashmir and people of Kashmir have rejected her, she keeps engineering such propaganda. India belongs to everyone-- Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and others,” said Raina.
{{/usCountry}}He also advised the PDP chief to read and sing Allama Iqbal’s ‘Mazhab nahi sikhata apas mein bair rakhha, Hindi hai hum, vatan hai Hindustan humara’.
There was no immediate reaction from Mehbooba Mufti and the PDP on Raina’s comment.
On a multiplex inaugurated by lieutenant governor (L-G) in Kashmir on Tuesday, he said that it was a beginning of a new era.
“Our youth heard only bombs and bullets in the last over 30 years and they were deprived of any entertainment. Cinema will give them a pleasant experience,” he said.
Raina also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for declaring the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary on September 23 as public holiday.