Srinagar: The BJP is “bulldozing the secular nature of the country and in the process making many Pakistans within India”, according to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Speaking to ThePrint, Mufti was referring to the demolition of alleged illegal structures and encroachments in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone and Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, a move that has stoked a controversy because it followed communal clashes in the areas.
“They are not just bulldozing the houses of minorities, but the very secular culture of this country. They have failed on all fronts, whether it is employment, inflation, the only thing they are using now is the Hindu-Muslim divide. They do not seem to have any vision for the country,” she said.
“This government is trying to create many Pakistans within India. When they tell people (mostly the minority) to go to Pakistan for not conforming to their idea of nationalism, they are creating mini-Pakistans,” she added. “They haven’t offered anything new to the country, but at the same time are dividing the country into pieces, destroying the secular nature of this country.”
Born in Anantnag in May 1969, Mehbooba Mufti is the daughter of the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a former Union minister and Jammu & Kashmir CM who founded the PDP in 1999. A former parliamentarian, Mufti has helmed the party since her father’s death in 2016.
She spoke to ThePrint at her plush Gupkar Road residence. Located in the heart of Srinagar, Gupkar Road is a VIP area that comprises houses of several big-ticket politicians, as well as the erstwhile CM’s residence.
Mufti weighed in on many subjects in the interview, including the impending elections in J&K, a potential alliance with members of the Gupkar Alliance — a coalition that brought rival parties together ahead of the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019 — as well as the Aam Aadmi Party’s prospects in the Union territory.
However, a common refrain running through her statements was criticism for what she described as the BJP’s polarisation tactics.
“I must compliment the Muslim community and admire their courage for the patience they are showing. They are being provoked like anything and this provocation is not coming from just gunda elements. It is being promoted from the top, from the government,” she said.
Mufti claimed she was aware of the people’s anger with the PDP for allying with the BJP for three years, between 2015 and 2018, but sought to defend the tie-up, saying it was “part of a strategy”.
The PDP, she added, was aware that the “BJP has come to power for good” at the Centre.
“Of course, people are angry with me and the PDP because they are not able to understand my father’s vision or strategy, which is to rope in BJP in order to tie down their hands so that they don’t do what they are doing right now,” she said.
“The idea was to give them a stake in power,” she added. “Once you have a stake in something, you don’t try to fiddle with other things.”
Of PDP & elections in J&K
Whenever elections are next announced in Jammu & Kashmir, the PDP will be in the running, Mufti said, adding that “we will not concede any space to the BJP or make it easy for them to occupy this space”.
She said she would consider a pre-poll alliance with Gupkar members — which include the National Conference — just to “keep the BJP out of Kashmir”.
“We are yet to talk about an alliance but I feel there is a need to come together to keep the BJP out,” she said. “We have to come together to fight them here in J&K, to ensure that they do not get any chance to further disempower the people here.”
Mufti said the PDP will participate in the elections, irrespective of the final delimitation report — mandated to redraw the assembly constituencies of J&K and expected to be submitted in the next few days.
The draft report, which proposed seven additional assembly seats for Jammu and Kashmir — increasing Jammu’s tally by six, to 43 from 37, and Kashmir’s by one to 47 — was rejected by the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).
Mufti also said that the way the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was growing across India, it could pose a challenge for both the Congress and the BJP in Jammu, whenever elections are next held.
“In Jammu, Aam Aadmi Party is definitely a challenge for both the Congress and BJP as it will take away the secular vote, but in Kashmir, I heard they are being promoted by the BJP to cut votes,” she said.
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‘Government giving opportunities to outsiders’
Mufti accused the Modi government of step-motherly treatment towards the Valley. She alleged that, while the government has taken a decision to lift the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from parts of the Northeast, they are not considering the same for J&K since they look at Kashmir “through the prism of religion”.
“They are not looking at this as a human problem. They think it’s a Muslim majority state, so marte hain toh marne do (let them die). That is the attitude,” she claimed.
“When they look at it from the security scenario they just want that every gun should fall silent and then they will think about lifting AFSPA, which is not the right attitude,” she said. “At least start with certain places and see how things go,” she said.
She also accused the Centre of opening J&K to outsiders, who “eat into the local residents’ share of jobs and resources”.
In 2019, the Modi government repealed Article 370, which allowed special privileges to J&K, including property rights. The erstwhile state was also at the time divided into two union territories — J&K and Ladakh.
Mufti, along with other Kashmiri leaders, were arrested hours before the development. She was released in October 2020.
“You won’t find such easy land laws anywhere in the country, like they have made in J&K. They have cut out the stamp duty to 50 per cent, just because they want to put the whole land on sale and want anybody to come and buy the land. The jobs of locals are given to outsiders,” she claimed.
“We have to share our jobs with the rest of the country, although they have not been able to create any new jobs as promised, they are taking our share. Same is the case with our resources,” Mufti alleged.
She claimed that contractors for “most things” are being hired from outside.
“Even for the PM’s rally in Jammu on 24 April, the contractor who set up the stage was brought from outside,” she said. “Why wasn’t a person from Jammu hired for the job?” she asked.
“Whatever construction is being done — like AIIMS in Jammu — the contractor is from outside. Even the supply of sand and cement is done by the outsiders, not the J&K people,” she added.
Speaking about the need for statehood in J&K, Mufti said “it’s like offering new shoes to someone whose feet you have cut off”. “They have taken away everything from us—our special status or dignity,” she added.
On talks with Pakistan
The well-lit living area of the Mufti residence overlooks a lush green lawn. On one of the walls of the room is a portrait of her father — Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Every now and then during the interview, as references to the late Union home minister emerged, Mufti, seated in a wood-frame armchair, stole a glance at the portrait.
One such instance was when the subject of talks with Pakistan came up. Mufti, who has been vocal about initiating a dialogue with Pakistan, said talking to the neighbour is the only solution to the ongoing crisis.
“When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM, a dialogue with Pakistan was initiated, there was a sense of calmness in the atmosphere,” she said.
“My father had back then said that without changing boundaries in J&K, we can connect these two sides and freely have travel as well as trade. Just so the curiosity of either side is satisfied. And people can see for themselves what lies there and what we have,” she said.
She said that when the dialogue with Pakistan was initiated, the security situation in the Valley improved considerably.
“I have seen that process and lived it. That was the best thing that could have happened. You had a ceasefire at that time and things were fine in Kashmir,” she said.
“All the time we hear that the neighbour is creating problems. Then why not speak to them and your own people? Vajpayee was successful in getting infiltration down, ceasefire on borders and there was some kind of peace here. Why not give that a try?” she added.
‘PM didn’t address panchayat members’ main concern’
Last month, PM Narendra Modi made his first visit to Jammu & Kashmir since the scrapping of Article 370, where he inaugurated or laid the foundation for “multiple development initiatives”. However, Mufti said most of the projects in question were started by Dr Manmohan Singh and nothing new has come up in BJP’s tenure.
“In Jammu, there is no electricity in this heat. People are suffering, when J&K is the place supplying maximum electricity to the central grid,” she added. Unemployment rate is the highest right now. They said after 370 there will be job avenues, but it’s a lie.”
“Instead of talking about big projects, most of which had anyway started earlier, do something for the immediate relief of the people,” she said.
She also had a dim view about the implications of the trip made by UAE delegations in March to look out for investment opportunities in Kashmir.
“If our own people don’t feel confident enough to come and invest here, because of the ground situation, how do you expect outsiders to put in money?”
Mufti said although the PM came to speak to the members of the panchayat system, he “forgot to address their main concern — security”
The past few years have seen a rise in attacks on panchayat representatives. According to police data, six panchayat members have been killed by militants in the past six months.
“They say they are strengthening democracy from its roots but we saw when the PM was in Jammu, he did not mention even once about the panchayat members being killed, their security. Not a single word,” she alleged.
“These people (panchayat representatives) were made to sleep on the roads (when they went from Kashmir to Jammu for the PM’s event). These panchayat members are being held in different security zones in Kashmir and are not allowed to move freely and meet people,” she said. “What is the purpose of them being elected representatives?”
‘Congress should start a movement’
Speaking about her meeting with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in April, Mufti said she was “disturbed” about what was happening in the country and wanted to convey that “the Congress needs to step in to protect India at this point”.
“I wanted to go and tell her that the Congress needs to come and protect the country at this point of time. Forget about elections, forget about who wins or loses, but the party’s cadre and leaders have to come forward to start a movement, a protest,” she said. “I feel the Congress party laid the foundation of the country on secularism.”
Mufti said what is happening in India today is what happened in Pakistan many years ago, when a “General (Zia-Ul-Haq) wanted to misuse religion and created a situation where Pakistan is bankrupt today”.
“He gave guns in the hands of youths in the name of Islam. Now they are facing the consequences for that. Same is happening in our country. The BJP is pushing the country to that,” she said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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