Union minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday took a dig at PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti for using the elevation of Rishi Sunak as Britain's prime minister to lament alleged divisiveness in India, saying that India's democracy is far better than that of any other country in the world.
The Minister of State for Personnel, without naming anybody, questioned the mindset which is "possibly motivated by reluctance to accept the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is part of India".
"Anybody who is familiar with the history of independent India and the history of Indian democracy would have no doubt that democracy in India is far better than any other country's in the world," Singh told reporters here.
For example, India has witnessed more than one presidents either from the minority or from the weaker sections, he said.
"I am proud to say that during the Vajpayee regime, we had APJ Abdul Kalam as the President of India. After Prime Minister Modi took over, we had Ram Nath Kovind and now we have (Droupadi) Murmu.
"Incidentally, all of them are either from the minority section or from the weaker section, and if you think Jammu and Kashmir is also part of India, I think everybody would accept that the President (of India) is also the President for Jammu and Kashmir," the minister said .
"But what worries me is that the mindset which articulates such kind of phrases and such kind of observations is possibly motivated by reluctance to accept the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is part of India," said Singh, who is a Lok Sabha member from Udhampur constituency of the Union territory.
The minister was asked to respond on remarks by PDP chief and former J&K chief minister Mufti.
"Proud moment that UK will have its first Indian origin PM. While all of India rightly celebrates, it would serve us well to remember that while UK has accepted an ethnic minority member as its PM, we are still shackled by divisive & discriminatory laws like NRC & CAA," Mufti had tweeted on Monday.
