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.
I am sorry to say that the image of India which the (TV) anchors project is not what India is about, is not the India I know,Mehbooba Mufti
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.
“To me, India is Indira Gandhi. When I was growing, she represented India for me. Maybe some people won’t like it but she was the India,” the chief minister said, apparently referring to the Sangh Parivar’s dislike for the Nehru-Gandhi family.
“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.
Nobody Will Protect Tricolor in Kashmir if Constitutional Status is Changed
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.
Any tinkering with the article won’t be acceptable. I won’t hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the national flag in Kashmir (if the article is scrapped). Let me make it very clear.Mehbooba Mufti
Responding to the CM's statements, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), said:
Tricolour is sacrosanct to us. It will fly high in J&K as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union.Jitendra Singh
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.
I feel Modi is the man of the moment. He can become the man of history and his leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed. And there has to be a way to work together and take Kashmir out of the messMehbooba Mufti
(This article has been edited for length.)
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