“When Mufti Sahib had 28 seats (out of 87 in the 2014 Assembly polls), he met Modi and gave his list of conditions for government formation with BJP. He took the assurance from the Centre that Article 370 will not be touched. He tied their hands. He was not after power, otherwise, he would not have taken three months to form the (coalition) government,” the PDP president told workers at a rally here to mark the party’s 24th anniversary.
The coalition government was led by Sayeed as CM till his death in January 2016 and later by Mehbooba till BJP withdrew support in 2018.
Mehbooba alleged that BJP backtracked from its commitments on Article 370 – scrapped in August 2019 – and accused it of trying to “subjugate the citizens of J&K”. “BJP wants to throw us into complete subjugation. We will not allow that …. If all of us – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Gujjars, Paharis – stand united, BJP will give in,” she said.
Mehbooba indicated that her father always put J&K interests on top. “Despite having only 16 MLAs (in the 2002 assembly polls, Mufti sahib told Congress (with 20 seats) that he would form the government only if talks were held with Pakistan and separatists,” she said.