My father held ‘Jinn in bottle’ by aligning with BJP: Mehbooba

Srinagar, April 10 (IANS) Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said on Wednesday that by aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), her father, Mufti Sayeed, had captured the "Jinn in the bottle".

Addressing an election rally in Anantnag district, Mehbooba Mufti said by joining hands with the BJP, her late father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, had captured the Jinn in the bottle given the strong right-wing ideology of the BJP.

"The mandate given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 was a golden opportunity for him to resolve the Kashmir issue.

"My father said many times that Modi has a two-fold mandate -- he is a Prime Minister of the BJP, and is backed by RSS and Bajrang Dal and other Hindu parties, which gives him the power to take bold initiatives.

"In 2014 Assembly elections, Mufti Sahib had appealed people to give him 40 seats, but the fractured mandate which saw BJP winning 25 seats meant that the PDP had no option, but to drink a cup of poison by joining hands with the saffron party.

"By joining hands with BJP, Mufti Sahib captured the Jinn in the bottle.

"The Jinn who talks about abrogation of Article 370, 35A today and the Jinn who has closed the national highway for two days a week.

"The same Jinn through the NIA (National Investigation Agency) is now not sparing even leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and taking others to Tihar jail."

She claimed her father had set preconditions before joining hands with the BJP.

"These preconditions were to have a dialogue with Pakistan and the Hurriyat leaders. He had set a precondition that Article 370 would not be touched.

"BJP had agreed to return power projects to the state and work for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)," she said.

She warned the Central government that if Article 370 and 35A are abrogated, there would be such a conflagration from Kashmir that would destroy the entire south Asian region.