Srinagar: Former civil aviation minister and BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain Tuesday took a dig at Pakistan-China relationship, saying that “Pakistan is not Islamic Republic of Pakistan, but China-occupied Pakistan”.
The senior politician, who is currently in Kashmir to campaign for the ongoing District Development Council (DDC) elections, also raked up the issue of Uyghur Muslims in China and accused Pakistan of stoking trouble in Jammu and Kashmir with “goley” (bombs) “begged from China”.
“By name it is Pakistan, but in reality all the impure activities take place there. Imran Khan talks about Riyasat-e-Madina (the state of Madina during the times of Prophet Mohammed), but his own country people do not want to listen to him,” he said at a press conference in Srinagar. The BJP leader, the party’s star campaigner for the DDC polls, has been in Srinagar for the past three weeks.
Hussain added: “Pakistan is not Islamic Republic of Pakistan, but China-occupied Pakistan. They are being directed by China and when questions are raised on Uyghur Muslims, he doesn’t talk. They beg for bombs from China and throw them here. But we will find a treatment for them. It’s our misfortune that we have an impure country as our neighbour.”
Attacking Pakistan further, Hussain said the country suffers from the “cancer of terrorism” and that the BJP government has performed a “chemotherapy” when it carried out the Balakot airstrikes in response to the February 2019 Pulwama attack.
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‘Request farmers not to be crutches of politicians’
Hussain’s press conference comes on the day of a ‘Bharat Bandh’ that called by farmers protesting against the Modi government’s farm laws.
Speaking on the farmers’ protest, Hussain said they are “falling prey to propaganda”.
“Farmers live in the heart of Narendra Modi. We decided to pay Rs 6,000 to every farmer every year. We are concerned about them. We are committed towards farmers and ensure that nobody can take away an inch of land from them. Like in J&K, they are also falling prey to propaganda.”
“Regarding the MSP (minimum support price), we are committed to double the income of farmers and it is the dream of our prime minister. We request the farmers not to be the crutches of these politicians. Farmers are our own people and we are dealing with them empathetically,” Hussain said.
The BJP leader added that farmers are being “led astray” by people like Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, “who had earlier talked about the same laws”.
“They are firing from the shoulders of farmers for their own political gains and goals. They want to use farmers as crutches as the people of this nation have already broken their feet. They have been rejected in Bihar and managed to get two seats in Hyderabad. They are now exploiting farmers for their political gains,” Hussain added.
‘Gupkar gang should talk development’
Hussain also took a swipe at former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti as well as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi went to Bihar for two days and his body was hurting so he had to rest for four days in Himachal. I am 18 months seven days elder to him, but I am traveling in Kashmir. These people think they are born in a dynasty, so then can do tourism in politics,” he added.
“I am telling the Gupkar gang to talk about development. Dynasty-free and corruption-free Jammu-Kashmir. I want to say to Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, other gang leaders and their ringmaster Congress to talk about development,” Hussain said.
The BJP leader also took a potshot at Mufti, who Tuesday released a video of her “detention” as she wanted to visit Budgam.
“Illegal detention has become GOI’s favourite go-to method for muzzling any form of opposition. I’ve been detained once again because I wanted to visit Budgam where hundreds of families were evicted from their homes,” she wrote.
Illegal detention has become GOIs favourite go to method for muzzling any form of opposition. Ive been detained once again because I wanted to visit Budgam where hundreds of families were evicted from their homes. pic.twitter.com/HFQHJHPAzQ
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) December 8, 2020
Hussain termed the PDP chief’s tweets as “drama” and said that even he was not allowed to visit Budgam by authorities over security threats. He said the difference between him and Mufti was that he listened to the valid concerns of the administration.
Meanwhile, senior police officials told ThePrint there was no detention order issued against Mufti, but she was barred to visit Budgam due to “security reasons”. They, however, did not specify the security reasons.
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