Mehbooba Mufti
Gandhi's India is turning into Godse's India: Mehbooba Mufti
New Delhi/UNI: President of the Jammu and Kashmir's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday launched a scathing attack against the Union government, stating that Mahatma Gandhi's India was turning into "Godse's India".
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state further said that Jammu and Kashmir was a "laboratory" and what was done in the state, would be replicated in the rest of the country.
"It feels Gandhi's India has become Godse's India," Mufti said at a press conference here.
Attacking the BJP-led government at the Centre, Mufti said, "They are not running a democratic government. They are running a government with a colonial mindset."
"They have made J&K laboratory, what is being done there, is also being done in the rest of the country. We are not allowed to speak, even if we want to hold a peaceful protest, we are locked inside our homes," she said.
"The narrative being built is that everything is fine after the repeal of Article 370, the situation has not improved, it has become worse," she added.
Remembering former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a great statesman, Mufti, who headed the government in J&K in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said they allied with the party because her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wanted a solution for the people of the state.
Asked why her party allied with BJP, and not with parties like National Conference and Congress, she said, "My father did not want to be the Chief Minister, he wanted to resolve the problems of Kashmir. We wanted to take forward the process Vajpayee started".
Asked if she believed talks should be held with Pakistan, she cited the example of Vajpayee, and said he held talks with Pakistan even after the Kargil war.
"There is no statesman bigger than Vajpayee. He talked to them even after Kargil. When you can talk to China who has captured our land, why can't we talk to Pakistan," she questioned.
"For them, farmers are Khalistani, students are tukde-tukde gang, and we are Pakistanis...," she said.
She also expressed her reservations about the delimitation process being carried out in Jammu and Kashmir, and said they believed it was being done to turn the situation in favour of BJP.
Mufti, while reiterating that she will not fight any election until Articles 370 and 35 A are reinstated, added that her party, the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party, will fight elections, when they are held.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also said that dialogue was the only way forward, and said that the "middle ground", the political parties that were a part of Indian democracy, have been sidelined.
"It was something I had never imagined that the mainstream parties that have faced ire or people when we talked about India, we were obliterated, we were locked," she said.
She also said that there were no meetings planned with the government or its representatives during her current visit to Delhi. Mufti will be in the national capital till Wednesday.
On Monday, the PDP chief had staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in the national capital.
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