Updated: December 10, 2020 7:18:02 am
Mehbooba Mufti said it was important for the PAGD to fight for the right to campaign in the DDC polls.
BOYCOTT the District Development Council (DDC) polls, the first election exercise after the removal of J & K’s special status, would have left “the field open for the BJP and its representatives,” said the former chief minister and chairman of the Democratic Party. People (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti here today defending his party’s decision to compete.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, he said that the formation of the Gupkar People’s Alliance Declaration (PAGD), which includes the PDP, the National Conference and the People’s Conference, among other parts, was the “beginning” of the fight to restore J & K’s special program. state.
On why the PAGD was contesting the DDC polls, he said: “What was the other option? Leave the field open for the BJP and its proxies and be labeled as Pakistani agents? A boycott would only have helped them extend their tentacles deeper into the system here, already controlled by an administration subservient to the whims and fancies of Delhi. “
Accusing the administration of preventing him from moving, he listed steps such as the domicile law, the Gujjars eviction, and changes in the government’s position on Roshni’s alleged land scam, saying: “For the BJP, J&K is not a politician but a religious problem that can only be solved by changing the religious composition, ensuring that Muslims become a minority in the only Muslim majority state. “
The PDP chief added: “Our fears of demographic changes have never been exaggerated or misplaced. All disruptive policies and actions are in full swing, be it the domicile law, the eviction of Gujjars, the cancellation of the lease of local hoteliers or the outsourcing of natural resources such as sand and stone. All of this justifies their motives to disempower the locals and gradually ensure that outsiders outnumber locals. “
On the government’s filing of a petition for a revision of the Roshni Law, which seeks to distinguish between landless cultivators and individuals residing in small-area housing and wealthy and wealthy land grabbers, Mufti said he was referring to their “communal motive.” and “false and malicious propaganda” to project the plan as a scam had failed. “Eventually, the fact that Jammu benefited more than the Valley (because of the Law) has been made public. In Jammu, 3.50,000 kanals (1 kanal is 0.125 acres) were transferred under the Roshni Law against 33,000 kanals in the Valley. “
Mufti said it was important for the PAGD to fight for the right to campaign in the DDC polls. “The only way to deal with bullies is to confront them … Every excuse under the sun is used to slow my movements. Tonight, I received a letter from the J&K Police citing security concerns once again to postpone my trip to Budgam until the election is over. If security is a nuisance, how is the top level of BJP leaders and their representatives allowed to move freely within Kashmir? “
Mufti said that PPD youth chairman Waheed ur Rehman Para had been arrested because he had refused to “join the BJP or its representatives.” “Despite being illegally detained for more than a year, he still put his faith in democracy and decided to fight in the DDC elections. His subsequent arrest smells of political vendetta and is being used to instill fear in the youth of the Valley, ”he said.
The PPD chairman accused the Center of using the NIA and the Directorate of Enforcement to “intimidate all sectors” of society in Kashmir. “Initially, the diabolical narrative of the Government of India was limited to blaming the main parties for every problem that afflicts J&K,” he said. “But now they are harassing and intimidating all sectors of society, be they businessmen, journalists or social activists. The idea is to stifle and stifle all outlets of dissent and make people economically and emotionally vulnerable. “
On his recent claim that the government wants to ban the PDP, Mufti said: “Despite the fact that the Center engineered a split in the PDP and other pressure tactics, we still resist the illegal unconstitutional changes that took place on August 5. of 2019 “.
Mufti said that the formation of the PAGD was the beginning, and that they would mark “a peaceful and non-violent strategy” to recover “what was illegally taken from the people of J&K.” “Resistance is a matter of choice and I have made that decision. Having said that, I alone, or even the PAGD, cannot successfully wage this battle unless people join this movement. Unfortunately, by reducing it to mainstream binaries vis-à-vis the Indian government, the media is doing a disservice to the larger cause. “
He said he was not surprised that Congress is distancing itself from the PAGD. “Congress is a national party with its own limitations … But it is clear that the main local parties in Jammu and Kashmir will have to stand together for a greater cause … It is the aspirations of the people that will serve as the glue for keep this alliance together. “
Mufti, who spent 14 months in jail after the removal of J & K’s special status and its division into two Union Territories, said: “If there is one lesson I have learned and re-learned in the last two years, it is your personal rights and freedoms should not be taken for granted. We could be the largest democracy in the world on paper, but the truth is that we are heading towards a dictatorship where the Constitution is torn apart every day. The truth is distorted to such an extent that the dividing line between fact and fiction is blurred ”.
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