Srinagar: Dismissing Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics and corruption in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today said it was “election rhetoric” and exposed the Prime Minister's ignorance about the state.
The sharp reaction from the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) chief came a day after Modi, during an election rally in Kishtwar, accused the Abdullah and Mufti families of “looting” J&K by turns and asked the voters to “punish” them.
“Even election time rhetoric should be restricted to decent levels and when the Prime Minister of the country speaks, he should not allow it to sound ridiculous as his comments about PDP in Kishtwar address sounded,” Mehbooba said addressing roadside rallies in south Kashmir. Mehbooba asked the Prime Minister to get his facts right before commenting on other political parties saying “it seems the Prime Minister has serious gaps in his knowledge on Jammu and Kashmir”.
She said when Prime Minister of India speaks on serious matters, one would “ordinarily expect him to be correct on facts whatever his opinion on different issues”.
The PDP president claimed that everybody in Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country was aware about the integrity and credentials of party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and “the fact that his party introduced a much needed corrective into the democratic system of the state by offering a credible and serious regional alternative to the people.”
“The three years that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led coalition served the state are still remembered as a reference point for good governance and political maturity which changed the scenario not just in Jammu and Kashmir but in the entire region,” she said.
She said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee publicly acknowledged the positive change that Sayeed had brought in the atmosphere and on the ground in J&K and could take his historic initiative on the state and about Pakistan “only after change of government in the state”.
“Till then, even in spite of being in alliance with the National Conference which was having a brute majority in the state assembly, Vajpayee had not been able to break ice on any front relating to Jammu and Kashmir,” Mehbooba said.
