Gupkar Alliance to decide on contesting polls, says Mehbooba Mufti

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on October 23 stated she was not all for contesting elections or holding the National Flag until the Constitutional changes enforced on August 5, 2019 have been rolled again.

In her first media interplay after her release from 14-month detention, the PDP president stated she would maintain the tricolour solely when the separate flag of the erstwhile State could be restored.

“As far as I am concerned, I have no interest in elections. Till the time the Constitution under which I used to contest elections is returned to us, Mehbooba Mufti has got nothing to do with elections, let me tell you that,” she stated.

Asked if her celebration and the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration will contest the District Development Council (DDC) elections, she stated a gathering of the alliance might be held on October 24 the place these points may also be mentioned aside from the overall scenario in Jammu and Kashmir.

Asked additional whether or not not contesting these polls might be like conceding area to the BJP, Ms. Mufti stated it was a hypothetical query. “You are discussing everything hypothetically. The alliance will sit and discuss it. It is not about the BJP and its cronies. Because people have to survive and God forbid, it should not happen that they (people) will come into the hands of those where they will be kicked out. So, we will take a decision keeping in mind all the pros and cons. Farooq (Abdullah) sahib is our leader, so we will take the right decision after everyone gives his opinion,” she stated.

Editorial | Valley’s voice: On J&K’s Gupkar alliance

The flag of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was prominently positioned on a desk in entrance of the PDP president together with the celebration flag throughout the presser. It was for the primary time that the PDP displayed the flag of the erstwhile State at a celebration operate or a presser.

“This is my flag,” Ms. Mufti stated, pointing to the flag of the erstwhile State, when a reporter requested her about her assertion that if Article 370 was revoked, there will be no one left to hold India’s flag. “When this flag of ours is restored, we will hold that flag (tricolour) also. But we will not hold any other flag till the time our flag, which was robbed from us, comes into our hold,” she stated.

Ms. Mufti stated the tricolour was a part of the Constitution and the BJP had desecrated that Constitution and flag. When a rape incident befell in Kathua space of Jammu, the BJP got here out with that flag and raised slogans in assist of the rapist.

Also learn | Struggle for solution to Kashmir issue will continue, says Mehbooba Mufti

She stated Jammu and Kashmir’s relation with India was due to the erstwhile State’s particular Constitutional place which included a separate flag. “When they themselves desecrated that Constitution and that flag, what do they expect from us? Our relation with that flag (tricolour) was because of this flag (erstwhile State’s) and it (the relationship) is not independent of this flag,” she stated.

Hitting out on the BJP, Ms. Mufti stated the celebration has “demolished” the nation’s Constitution and desires to exchange it with its manifesto. She regretted that the Opposition events within the nation, besides a number of, went silent on the difficulty pondering this occurred in Kashmir and never with them.

“But then, the BJP demolished the same Constitution, the BJP passed the Citizenship Amendment Act and polarised the people. Then made an anti-farmer law and now, I think they will steal the rights of the downtrodden communities like Dalits,” she stated. “They want to replace the country’s Constitution with the BJP’s manifesto, but this will not work. So many people like Pharaoh and Hitler came, but this dictatorship will not work.”

Comment | A year on, Article 370 and Kashmir mythmaking

Ms. Mufti stated the BJP doesn’t need the individuals of Jammu and Kashmir and is simply after the “territory”.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir are expendable for them, what they want is the territory. They had this territory rightfully till August 5, 2019, but then they broke a relation by virtue of which we had entered into an accession with them,” she stated.

The PDP chief lashed out on the BJP for desecrating the Constitution and “looting” the dignity of the individuals of Jammu and Kashmir by revoking its particular standing. “We had acceded to a liberal, democratic, secular India. Let me tell them we are not comfortable, we are incompatible with today’s India where minorities and Dalits are not safe and where they tried to disrespect us by looting our dignity. They will have to think, if not today, then tomorrow, that this country will run on India’s Constitution and not on the BJP’s manifesto,” she stated.

Ms. Mufti stated the BJP-led authorities had nothing to present and rake up apart from Kashmir and Article 370 to search votes.

“They have demonised Kashmiris, Muslims and even Dalits for that matter in the media and when they fail at anything, they remember Kashmir and Article 370,” she alleged.

Ms. Mufti additionally saluted IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan who stop the service in 2019 “over denial of freedom to the people of J&K”.