Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership but said for her “India is Indira".
At a Kashmir event in New Delhi, Mufti said she was saddened to see the the idea of India projected on television prime-times that widens the gap between India and Kashmir.
She said she has not known this India projected in “hyperventilating” TV debates.
Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir, defying the two-nation theory that was based on religious divide, had aligned to a more secular and accommodative India where Hindus and Muslims pray together at shrines, and statues of Hindu gods are being made by Muslim artisans.
“I want to see that India which cries, feels the pain of Kashmir. The India that embraced us on our terms. We are a diverse state with all kinds of multi-diversity of religion and everything. Kashmir is a mini-India in India," Mufti said.
Strongly opposing any move to revoke Kashmir's special constitutional status, she said some people were talking “about our flag, sometimes about Article 370... which are very dear to the people of the state and they help preserve the state's unique identity".
She warned against any tinkering with Article 35(A) of the constitution that is being debated in the Supreme Court and which empowers the state legislature to define "permanent residents" and accord special rights and privileges to them.
Strongly defending the constitutional clause, Mehbooba said that any change in its status would invite repercussions and mean that nobody would be able to protect the Indian national flag in Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to the CM's statements, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), said:
Meanwhile, JD(U)'s KC Tyagi voiced his support for Mufti as he remarked, "(I) support Mehbooba Mufti's statement. No attempts should be made to dilute Article 370. Otherwise our country will face problems."
Mufti said the government of India and the people of the country needed to do more to accommodate the aspirations of Kashmiris even as the sentiment of 'azadi' needed to be replaced with a "better idea".
She did not spell it out but spoke of more cross-border contacts between the people of divided Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief minister pinned her hopes on Prime Minister Modi for resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
(This article has been edited for length.)
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