Activists from the Shiv Sena Dogra Front during a protest against Mehbooba Mufti.
Srinagar:
Three leaders today resigned from Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir saying their comments had “hurt patriotic sentiments.”
PPD leaders TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Hussain A Waffa sent resignation letters to party chief Mehbooba Mufti, who was released earlier this month after 14 months in detention under the Public Security Act (PSA).
The leaders, in their letter, said they were “quite uncomfortable with some of his undesirable actions and statements, especially those that hurt patriotic sentiments.”
Mehbooba Mufti was among dozens of political leaders detained in Jammu and Kashmir when the central government ended his special status under Article 370 and divided it into two Union Territories.
Last week, Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that she was not interested in participating in the elections or holding the Indian flag until constitutional changes applied on August 5 last year are repealed. Calling the central government “thieves”, he demanded that the separate flag of Jammu and Kashmir be restored.
To protest his comments, the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir held a “Tiranga (flag) march “today.
The flag marches, one in Srinagar and one in Jammu, featured bulletproof cars flying the Indian flag and were accompanied by police jeeps.
Mehbooba Mufti is part of the “Declaration of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar” led by the leader of the National Conference Farooq Abdullah, a group of parties from Jammu and Kashmir fighting for the restoration of Article 370. Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah Both former chief ministers were also released earlier this year after being detained in August last year.
The “Peoples Alliance” seeks a dialogue among all interested parties for a resolution.
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