Iltija Mufti, the 32-year-old daughter of former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, has been very vocal on Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and detention of her mother since last August. In an exclusive interview with Zulfikar Majid of Deccan Herald, she says BJP was trying to push its Hindutva agenda in the only Muslim-majority state of the country and people of Kashmir were being punished because they were Muslims.
Q: The BJP government said that revocation of Article 370 was necessary to end militancy, separatism and corruption and bring development and jobs to J&K. How would you react to it one year down the line?
It was part of BJP’s Hindutva agenda. J&K is the only Muslim majority state of India. Maybe we are paying the price for being Muslims and Kashmiris. Both of us live in Kashmir and facts are before all of us to see. When you talk about development, Jammu and Kashmir has always been placed very strongly on the development index because we had separate constitution, own laws and veto laws. If Parliament wanted to bring some law to J&K which was not in its interests, we had the right to veto it. The development thing is all bogus, there is no development. The investors’ summit they (BJP) are talking about has been postponed indefinitely.
And there has been a surge in militancy and you don’t have to be a genius to figure that out. Only last month, a BJP leader (in Bandipora) was killed along with his family despite having huge security. That whole militancy narrative has fallen apart and logic for that is simple. If you obliterate the middle ground, it is very natural for young boys to get attracted towards militancy. On all fronts the BJP has failed massively. And it is no coincidence that the Prime Minister has chosen August 5 to inaugurate Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Q: How do you view the new domicile rules?
When I last year said that Delhi wants to engineer a demographic change here, I was abused and termed as a paranoid. Everybody said it is far-fetched and not going to happen. But if you look at it, they (Delhi) imposed domicile rules on people of J&K in the middle of (Covid-19) pandemic. Why would you pass an order which is going to cause so much distress to people who are already under double lockdown during night? I would say what they want in Kashmir is cultural genocide. I say this with full responsibility. We know what China did in Tibet. Today if you go to Tibet, there is no Tibetan culture. People have been driven out. Delhi wants to replicate that here. And they also probably want to do the Gaza model here. They are imitating Israel in a lot of ways. But Kashmir is not Palestine. I think the agenda of BJP is to obliterate our identity and wipe out our culture to make sure Kashmiris don’t exist.
Q: Do you want to say that BJP’s plan is to change the demography of J&K?
Demographic changes don’t happen in a week or two. It takes five, ten years. If you think there is no demographic change, you are wrong. The people who are being given domiciles, their children are going to come here, buy land and settle here. The Army has occupied huge parts of Kashmir, now they have permission to build anywhere. What is the business of the army to be here and occupy such huge parts of land which belongs to people? They want to obliterate our sense of identity, and it’s pretty obvious.
Q: What scope is left for the regional political parties like the PDP and the NC after abrogation of Article 370? The PDP’s politics revolved around self-rule while NC’s around autonomy. Is it all over?
Nothing is ever redundant in history. If you look at the BJP, they had two or three members in the Parliament during 1980’s. Obviously now what they have gotten now is through unfair means, but what I am trying to say that history is not linear. And especially when it comes to J&K, it has an external dimension which you can’t ignore. Earlier, we would say it is a bilateral issue, now it is a trilateral issue. It is very immature and premature to say that regional parties are written off.
But having said that, we need to move beyond mainstream parties. These domicile laws will apply to everybody in J&K. We are talking about preserving our history, our legacy, our collective identity. So we really need to stop focusing on mainstream parties. Yes mainstream parties have to take the first step, but to take it completely on their head, it is slightly unfair.
Q: BJP has been accusing both the PDP and the NC of being responsible for the situation Kashmir is presently in. How would you react to this allegation?
When they went with the NC in 2001, was the NC a different family then. When they pushed the PDP for an alliance (in 2015) was there a different family and different people incharge of the party. BJP does power politics and whatever suits them they do that.
In the past year, Mehbooba Mufti is a jihadi, she is not a moderate. She is almost as good as a terrorist. She is a Pakistani sympathizer. Wasn’t she (Mehbooba) a Pakistani sympathizer when she was heading the PDP-BJP alliance in J&K? That time she is ‘abla nari’ and when detained she becomes Pakistan sympathizer!
Q: Apart from revocation of Article 370, return of Kashmiri Pandits was also in the election manifesto of the BJP. Article 370 has gone but Pandits have not returned? What is your view?
I am not surprised at it. Kashmiri Pandits are our brothers and sisters and Kashmir is incomplete without its minorities. I feel very sad for them having to leave. But the pain of Kashmir Pandits has been weaponized and used to justify the collective punishment which has been unleashed on us. This (Article 370) had nothing to do with the Kashmiri Pandits coming and settling here. Can we have numbers? No you (BJP) are not going to give any numbers. Even if they give numbers they will be fudged like they do with GDP and pandemic numbers.
Q: How does your mother feel about the events of the last one year in J&K? Do you talk to her about all this?
She is very distressed at whatever is happening here. She has been saying this is to disempower us, to push the Hindutva agenda in the only Muslim-majority state. We are being punished because we are Kashmiris and we are Muslim. BJP has no tolerance for dissent. The threshold for dissent is very low.
Q: What do you think is the reason for Mehbooba Mufti’s continuing detention while other leaders have been released in the recent months?
See I can’t say about other leaders because that will be unfair. But yes I will say they (BJP) want to make an example out of my mother. If you followed the developments of Kashmir for the past one year, you will see that she has been humiliated and she is the only main politician who is still detained under PSA. Her party (PDP) has been broken into pieces and all this has been orchestrated in New Delhi.
They (BJP) used NIA, police and CID to blackmail PDP members. The message is very clear and loud from the government of India that if you (Mehbooba) don’t fall in line, this is what is going to happen to you. But having said that she is a strong person and she isn't going to be the first person to blink.
Q: Recently you tweeted that the government isn’t allowing you to visit your grandfather’s grave while other leaders are being allowed to visit Pahalgam and Gulmarg. Do you want to say the BJP govt is stricter towards you and the PDP than say against the NC and its leaders?
I am not even a politician and I am being denied to visit my grandfather’s grave to offer prayers and the government gives security as a reason. When Union MOS Jitendra Singh, (BJP National General Secretary) Ram Madhavji and others visit different areas of Kashmir, you don’t have security issues. These are silly excuses. Actually they have scuttled my freedom. When I tried to call a press conference in January, it was also scuttled. I guess I am paying the price for being so vocal and critical and obviously being the daughter of Mehbooba Mufti I will have to pay a price.
Q: Do you hope that the special status of J&K will be restored someday?
Right now people here feel very dejected. But nothing is settled in stone. At the end of the day, even BJP can’t predict what was going to happen next. Last year they had no clue that China will occupy territory in Ladakh. Change can happen anytime. Revolutions don’t come seeking permissions. Clearly the narrative has slipped out of BJP’s hands.
Q: What in your opinion should be the reference point to regional political parties to start political activities in J&K?
I am not a leader to speak about this issue. But I would say New Delhi would enjoy any division in the ranks of regional political parties in J&K. I don’t think we should give any chance to New Delhi to do that. If I would be a leader I would make ‘Gupkar declaration’ (the last document that was forged collectively by all the J&K parties on August 4, 2019 at Farooq Abdullah’s home on Gupkar Road) as a reference point.
Do you think people of Kashmir are still angry with the PDP for its alliance with the BJP in 2015?
It will be unfair for me to comment on this issue. Only my mother and grandfather know how difficult the situation was then. In today’s India survival of a BJP government in different states you know how difficult it is. If Congress had won Jammu that time, the PDP could have gone with the Congress. But you know how difficult it would have been to ignore Jammu where BJP had got a huge mandate. My grandfather took this decision keeping in mind people’s welfare as BJP had this huge sweeping mandate (at the Centre).