Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 | No govt will be formed without PDP support in J&K: Mehbooba

Jammu: People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said the next government in Jammu and Kashmir will be secular and that no government will be formed without the support of her party.

Mufti also responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s "three families" remark, and said that when the National Conference talked about joining Pakistan, it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who held and raised the Indian flag high in Kashmir.

"The government will be secular, and without the PDP, no government will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir. In the (first phase) elections held in South Kashmir, the PDP is emerging as the number one party," Mufti said at a poll rally in Jammu on Tuesday night.

Mufti, who was campaigning for party candidate Varinder Singh from Bahu seat in Jammu, said these elections are crucial for the future of J&K and urged people to vote cautiously.

Criticizing Modi for his statement labelling three families - the Gandhi, Abdullah, and Mufti families -- as "anti-national" and responsible for the emergence of terrorism, the former chief minister said, "Big leaders from BJP come here...the Prime Minister comes, the Home Minister comes, but they only oppose us. They have nothing to offer to the people. Whose opposition are they doing? Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s party, the same man who, since the 1960s, has raised India’s flag high in Kashmir." She said, "When National Conference ran a campaign for independence and talked about going to Pakistan, it was Mufti Sahab who held and raised the Indian flag in Kashmir. And now, they (BJP leaders) call his party anti-national." Mufti further said "have they forgotten that Ram Madhav knocked on our doors for two months, asking to form a government with us, and said that we could set any conditions. And we formed the government on those conditions." "Mufti Sahab ran the government in Jammu and Kashmir for over three years, and that era is called a golden period. We gave an MP to Jammu, we gave an MLC to Jammu, we gave an MLA to Jammu. Which party has done that?" she said.

Lambasting the BJP, she said that they are seeking votes from the people with a promise to give them a chief minister from the Jammu region.

"...These are hollow promises. Don’t fall for them. Tell me, they had the position of Governor in their hands, why didn’t they appoint a Governor from Jammu? Why did they bring in a Governor from outside? They are just trying to mislead you," she told the gathering.

The PDP chief said that had there been a governor from Jammu, even Kashmiris would have respected him for being from this region, and there would have been no opposition. "Tell me, why is there not a single advisor from Jammu? During our time, the DGP was from Jammu, the chief secretary was from Jammu, and many officers were from Jammu," she said.

She added, "Today they say, give us votes, and we will give you a Hindu chief minister. Is the Prime Minister of India a Muslim? Isn’t the Governor here a Hindu? Over there, your prime minister, and here, your governor. So, what have you achieved in many years?" She further alleged that Jammu and Kashmir is number one in unemployment, besides number one in drug use. "It’s our electricity, and they charge us by installing smart meters, while they supply our electricity to other parts of the country, they give it for free. The contracts for sand and gravel are given to outsiders, and the liquor contracts are also given to outsiders." The former chief minister questioned what the BJP government had done in the last six years.

Regarding the Congress-NC alliance, Mehbooba said, "When the Congress entered an accord in 1987, then Dr Farooq Abdullah put Rajiv Gandhi's party in his pocket. Even today, this party is in the pocket of the National Conference and has not come out of it." She blamed the NC for the rise of terrorism, saying, "When the NC and Congress came together, the alternative in Jammu and Kashmir ended. In 1987, the people of Kashmir said they would find a new alternative. And when the elections took place, the National Conference committed so much fraud that they did not allow an alternative to form. You all saw the result." Mufti said that when Kashmiri youth saw their votes being stolen, they picked up guns. "The consequences were seen — Chhati Singhpura happened, Kotdara happened, and others followed. Even now, graveyards are being made all over Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

She explained why Mufti Sahab needed to contest elections from Jammu. "Because the National Conference had created an atmosphere against him in Kashmir...he contested elections from Jammu, and you all respected him and got him elected from here." Later, talking to reporters, she said, "Where was the BJP when Omar Abdullah became a member of Parliament? The BJP kept him as a minister for five years."