‘Follow my father’s ideology... he’d never, ever give up on idea of India’

Mehbooba Mufti, 61, was the last chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir before the momentous events of August 5, 2019, when the Centre scrapped the special status and converted the state into two Union territories. A former ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mufti, who heads the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also spent the maximum time under detention before being freed in October 2020. She spoke to

on a range of issues. Edited excerpts:

August 5 was a black day in the history of our country. It destroyed the trust that people of Jammu & Kashmir had placed while choosing to be a part of this country. People like me who believed in the Constitution of this country too felt cheated. It was disturbing, and quite humiliating to see our special status robbed.

Well, it has been a very difficult and traumatic experience, swinging from one extreme to another. But my politics has revolved around my father’s ideology, and I am sure he would never ever have given up on the idea of India. He believed that J&K had to be resolved to restore peace with dignity, without compromising on sovereignty of the country. It has to become a bridge of friendship rather than a battlefield between India and Pakistan. So that vision is more relevant today, and needs to be fulfilled for lasting peace in the region. and flag was snatched unconstitutionally, I said I will wait for it to be restored, and hold both the flags together. Let’s not forget both the Indian and J&K flag derived their legitimacy from the Indian Constitution. If that amounts to sedition, then so be it. Students are called anti-nationals, activists and NGOs as urban Naxalites; Shaheen Bagh protestors as Pakistani; farmers are Khalistani; and we Kashmiri as terrorists. So in any case, dissent or criticism of the ruling party has become anti-national and sedition in today’s India.

The message was quite clear that PDP’s strength is its vision and party worker. Despite Delhi engineering a split in our party, our workers continue to work tirelessly to fulfil the party’s vision of peace with dignity. Their hard work paid off, and even though we fought fewer seats, our strike rate was good. So that’s very encouraging. oral gains, and lacks the vision and resolve to take decisions that will heal and build the country. Instead, it has chosen to take India down a dark and regressive path steeped in division, bigotry, and hatred for minorities. Unfortunately, J&K became a political experimental laboratory.

My father had a political vision not only for J&K but also for the country. He put everything at stake, including his credibility, while aligning with the BJP, only with the intention to secure what we already had — our special status — and to find a peaceful and dignified solution to the Kashmir problem. He was of the firm opinion that the resolution of Kashmir issue would not only end the bloodshed in the state but would also be in the interest of the country nationally as well as internationally. So even though I have never been a great fan of the BJP, I could not walk away from his decision. Lone’s leaving has been a loss too.

Well the way BJP has vandalised the Constitution and are running the country on their party agenda, they themselves have sidelined everything that this country stood for. They used the Tricolour to protest in support of rapists in Kathua. Mainstream parties in J&K held the Tricolour for the last 70 years not out of fear of being called anti-nationals, but out of their conviction. But when you destroy the faith and trust that Kashmiris put in the country, how does holding or not holding the flag matter? They have terrorised and stunned people into silence. All the central agencies such as NIA, ED, CBI etc. are used to threaten people here. Such draconian measures have led to an uneasy and forced sense of calm.

There hasn’t been much conversation but whenever there is, I tell them to let democracy prevail and allow people to express themselves. You can jail a person, not his ideas or thoughts.

I can’t separate my destiny from that of the people of J&K anymore. We are all in it together, so we either sink or swim. For me, resolution of Kashmir is the most important issue, and it was also my father’s desire to see it resolved in a peaceful and dignified way.

You had said that there would be no one to hold the Tricolour if Article 370 was touched. How do you explain the lack of protests?