Contretemps between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah over past association with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on public display on Thursday, 18 April.
The war of words ensued when PDP chief Mufti censured BJP’s decision to field Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Referring to BJP as “these guys” for fielding a terror accused as a candidate, Mufti tweeted, “According to these guys, terror has no religion when it comes to saffron fanatics but otherwise all Muslims are terrorists.”
War of Words Over “These Guys”
To which, Omar responded and reminded Mehbooba of her previous alliance with the BJP in 2015.
PDP and BJP had formed a coalition government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir which ended in June 2018. Mehbooba Mufti was the chief minister of the state until then.
In a bitter response, Omar pointed out that BJP had “unceremoniously unseated” Mehbooba’s government.
‘Consume Almonds, Omar. Improves Memory’
Mehbooba then took a jibe at Omar, asking him to consume almonds to improve his memory, as she reminded him of how NC was the first party to ally with BJP in J&K.
The argument further derailed when Omar accused Mehbooba of being an understudy of her mother. He added that he will be happy to debate his party’s coalition with Vajpayee-led BJP government as opposed to PDP’s coalition with BJP government.
The verbal spat ended with Mehbooba asking Omar if she had “hit a raw nerve” by pointing out that he did not resign on moral grounds post Gujarat riots and continued association with BJP.
The bitter war of words comes at a time when the two had rather shown agreement and compassion over the developments on political front. Mehbooba had recently shown concern after a grenade attack on NC’s Anantnag parliamentary candidate.
Omar had also termed the attack on Mehbooba’s convoy on 15 April as “most unfortunate” and had condemned it, wishing speedy recovery to an injured SSG security personnel.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)