Reacting to the statement J&K’s BJP president Ravinder Raina said Mehbooba Mufti wants to turn J&K into Taliban. "Such conspiratorial statements of Mehbooba will not be accepted. Such statements of Mehbooba are defaming people of J&K,” he said.
Addressing a gathering at the south Kashmir district of Kulgam, Mehbooba said for lasting peace in Kashmir, the government of India must restore the special status which they snatched illegally on August 5, 2019, and also resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue.
She said the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not cowards. “To remain non-violent one needs a lot of courage. People of J&K are bearing everything with patience but the day they will lose patience you will not remain there. I am telling you repeatedly don’t make us lose our patience. See what is happening in the neighborhood. See how the mighty Americans had to flee. You have a chance to start a dialogue as envisaged by Vajpayee (Atal Bihari Vajpayee). You must restore what you have snatched from us. Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India, not because of the BJP but due to the secular and democratic vision of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru, she said, believed in the Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. “It was Nehru who pledged to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to keep the distinct identity of J&K intact. Nehru promised to the then leadership of J&K that J&K’s special status would be maintained and that is why in spite of the Muslim majority state J&K chose to remain with India instead of Pakistan.”
