Mehbooba trying to create communal divide: Nirmal Singh

Senior BJP leader and former J&K chief minister Nirmal Singh on Thursday said that scared to face elections and desperate to regain lost political ground, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was trying to ignite communal tension with her hate speeches.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said Mehbooba’s statement smelt of a big conspiracy against the country and the Bharatiya Janata Party condemned it in the strongest terms.

On Wednesday, Mehbooba Mufti had said that the situation in Sri Lanka should serve as a wake up call for India and the BJP government as the country was treading the same path of religious majoritarianism and hyper nationalism as the island country.

While challenging the BJP, the PDP leader had also said, “If they have the courage, let them convert the Taj Mahal and other historical places into temples, then we will see who will visit this country.”

Nirmal Singh said, “Only thing common in Kashmir and Sri Lanka episode is that the leaders of both countries preferred family over the nation and followed the motto of family first rather than the nation first.”

“Her (Mehbooba’s) agenda has failed in Kashmir, where investors are coming and tourism is growing. And now, Mehbooba is instigating the youth of Kashmir towards stone pelting and separatism,” he added.

“Mehbooba, Farooq and Omar are annoyed to see peace in Jammu and Kashmir and in race with each other to instigate youth towards unrest in view of upcoming elections. There is also the support of Pakistan in this. All of them have one motive to weaken India,” Nirmal said.

Chief spokesperson of J&K BJP Sunil Sethi said, “Tweets of Mufti indicate her frustration on growth of India as the world leader and destructive situation existing in Pakistan, whose economy is in shambles as also its very existence. Being frustrated because of pathetic conditions in Pakistan, she is venting her anger towards India.” He said such statements are being made to provoke public sentiment.