Allied with BJP for Kashmir, says Mehbooba Mufti after break-up

Srinagar: Outgoing Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, on Tuesday sought to play the victim card and tried to wriggle out of the situation which she had been pushed in due to the BJP’s abrupt decision to pull out of the alliance. 

Mufti said, “Muscular security policy will not work in Jammu and Kashmir.”

The BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav had earlier said that the alliance with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) was untenable and ought to blame the state government for the rise in violence, terrorism and radicalisation in the Valley.

After concluding his consultations with all the major political parties in J&K, governor NN Vohra forwarded his report to the President for imposition of Governor’s Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, reported news agency ANI.

Mufti, apparently laying out a roadmap ahead for her party, said its patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had in 2015 opted to cobble up a coalition with the saffron party for a bigger cause. 

She said that the coalition was crafted with the BJP, the party which had formed government at the Centre after its landslide victory in the 2014 elections, only after taking the needs of the state into consideration.

Also Read: Jammu Kashmir govt collapses as BJP pulls out of ruling alliance with PDP

“Our alliance with BJP was meticulously planned. We joined hands to solve the issues that Kashmir was facing,” she said while speaking to reporters at her official residence after submitting her resignation to Governor, N.N. Vohra at Raj Bhavan here.

Acknowledging the fact that choosing BJP as an ally did not go well with the people of the Valley, from where the PDP had won 28 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections, she said it was done for a bigger cause. 

“The ideas for which we chose BJP as an ally to form the government were bigger. We wanted talks with the government, a unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, a policy of reconciliation and confidence-building-measures to address the issues,” she said.

Also Read: J&K headed for prolonged Governor’s rule as fresh polls unlikely soon

She insisted that the PDP did not do it for power but to safeguard the interests of the people of J&K. “We didn’t do it for power. Had we done it for power then there were numbers with National Conference and Congres. We did it for some objective,” she asserted.

Mufti also said that her government preserved Article 370 of the Constitution and also stood strong in defence of Article 35-A. 

She mentioned that the cases against 11,000 first time stone-pelters were withdrawn, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Pakistan for talks and unilateral ceasefire for Ramzan was announced.

She said that her government also retained the territorial integrity of the state and addressed cases such as the insecurity of the minority in a case of cow vigilantism as well as the Kathua rape case. 

Replying to questions, she said that she was not shocked by the BJP’s decision and reiterated that the main motive of forming the government with it was to preserve the special status of the state and build an atmosphere of reconciliation. 

“I’m not shocked. We didn't do this alliance for power. This alliance had a bigger motive- unilateral ceasefire, PM's visit to Pakistan, withdrawal of cases against 11,000 youth,” she said.

She also added that she handed over her resignation to the Governor and that her party was not interested in exploring the possibility of entering into an alliance with any other party to form a new government.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to speak on the alliance break-up, "The opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to J&K, killing many innocent people including our brave soldiers. It cost India strategically & destroyed years of UPA’s hard work. The damage will continue under President’s rule. Incompetence, arrogance & hatred always fails."

Delhi Chief Minsiter Arvind Kejriwal also expressed his concern on Twitter. 

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said Mehbooba should have resigned from the coalition before with some dignity intact rather than being shunted out. "I can't speculate what happened. I can't speculate if the killing of Shujaat Bukhari or the end of ceasefire was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Something happened but it is not for me to speculate that," he said.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also took to Twitter and called the BJP an "opportunistic party".