Mehbooba Mufti slams BJP: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday (June 24) said that Jammu and Kashmir, which she had once ruled before being bifurcated into two Union Territories, was a ‘laboratory’ for the BJP, against whom over 15 opposition parties came together at a single stage in Patna yesterday to strategise how to oust it from power at the Centre.

Alleging that three former chief ministers were ‘put in jail’ following the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, Mufti said that if the BJP returns to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it will undertake the ‘Kashmirisation’ of the whole country.

“There is, indeed, an attack on the idea of India. It was most evident when they abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and put its leaders, including three former chief ministers, in jail”, Mufti said while talking to the reporters, a day after the grand meeting at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence on Friday.

‘J-K was a laboratory’

“J-K was a laboratory. What we see in Delhi today, by way of the central ordinance, started much earlier in our state. Unfortunately, few people understood it back then. The BJP, if it returns to power in 2024, will trample upon the Constitution and undertake Kashmirisation of the whole country,” Mufti, who was the chief minister of the government formed with the support of the BJP before the party decided to pull away from the alliance in June 2018, said.

When asked about the Aam Aadmi Party’s allegation that Congress ‘refused’ to oppose the Centre’s ordinance on the services of the Delhi government, Mufti said that it was ‘never the central issue of the meeting’.

“Of course, Kejriwal raised the issue of ordinance, but we all were focused on issues of the idea of India and the assaults on the Constitution. Of course, Congress being a national party has its own way of airing its opinions on sensitive issues after due deliberations. Nobody has a problem with it,” she said.

AAP’s support to Article 370 abrogation

Reminded about the AAP’s support to the Bill that ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, the PDP chief said that various opposition parties did not ‘realise the implications’ of their move.

“It is true that many parties opposed to the BJP then did not realise the implications of what was taking place. But I did not come holding grudges,” she said.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that Article 370 could not be scrapped until a recommendation to the effect came from the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. But the BJP bulldozed everything”, the former chief minister added.

Responding to a query if the issue of the opposition’s prime ministerial face was discussed at the meeting yesterday, Mufti said that there is no need for it.

“Where is the need? The parties which attended the meeting had together polled more than 60 per cent of votes in the last Lok Sabha polls,” she said.

Opposition meeting in Patna

The top leaders of over 15 political parties participated in a meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at this residence in Patna. Top opposition leaders participated in the meeting aimed at bringing together all like-minded parties on one platform.

Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, MK Stalin, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Hemant Soren were among the participating leaders in the meeting. The next opposition huddle will take place in Shimla on July 10-12.

(With PTI inputs)

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