SRI NAGAR: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused “Abdullahs and Muftis of trying to divide the country”, National Conference president and party’s Srinagar candidate Farooq Abdullah on Monday said if they had wanted to disintegrate India then the country would not have existed today.
They also dared Modi to hold an election rally in Kashmir.
“PM Modi is accusing us of dividing India. I can tell Modi that he will break but India will not disintegrate,” 83-year-old Abdullah said while addressing party workers’ convention in the city on Monday.
Around 3,000-4,000 party workers, including women supporters, attended the workers' convention and cheered Abdullah during his speech.
The former CM said Modi should remember that it was he and his party, which contested polls in 1996 when no one was ready to even walk on the roads of Kashmir.
“I contested the poll for the sake of my people despite reservations from my party leaders. At that time, we unfurled the Indian flag. No one from your party (BJP) was here,” he said.
Abdullah said Modi has addressed poll rallies in Kathua and Akhnoor in the state.“Why is he not coming to Kashmir to address Muslims here? He knows he has betrayed Muslims,” he said.
On the PM’s statement that “J&K is an inseparable part of India”, Abdullah said, “If it is your part, why you did not come to Kashmir to address the people here? Is it because you are afraid that you haven’t done justice to them?”
He dared Modi to “address a rally here”, adding, “You said JK is an integral part. Where is the atoot ang (inseparable part)? It’s an eyewash,” he said.
Mehbooba’s convoy pelted with stones
The cavalcade of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti was pelted with stones by youth at Khiram in south Kashmir’s Anantnag on Monday.
One of the vehicles in the convoy was damaged and its driver was hurt in the incident.
However, Mehbooba, who is contesting the polls from Anantnag, escaped unhurt. She claimed Modi is planning another Balakot-like strike on Pakistan in a bid to extract political mileage during the elections.