New Delhi: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday slammed the anti-encroachment drive, and hit out at the BJP and Jammu and Kashmir administration, accusing them of turning the union territory into Afghanistan by following a “bulldozer policy”.
She said the BJP’s initial call for ‘Ek Samvidhan, Ek Vidhan, Ek Pradhan’ has given way to ‘one country, one language, one religion’, “where there is no Constitution”.
Addressing a press conference here, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief appealed to Opposition leaders in the country not to be a mute spectator to the “atrocities being committed by the BJP”.
“Parties including the Congress, Left, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party and others should raise their voices and not remain silent to the atrocities on common people in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
When asked about the assurance of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha that houses of poor will not be touched during the drive, Mehbooba said it is an attempt to create a discord between the rich and poor.
The fact is that small houses with tin shed are also being demolished which makes it clear that his message is not being heard on the ground, she claimed.
The People’s Democratic Party Chief alleged the BJP is using its brute majority to weaponize everything and “bulldoze” the Constitution.
“Palestine is still better. At least people talk. Kashmir is becoming worse than Afghanistan the way bulldozers are being used to demolish homes of people. What is the purpose of demolishing small houses of people. Is there a bulldozer policy,” she said.
“The brunt is borne by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever is happening since 2019 is an onslaught on our identity, on our economy, on our jobs, on our lands,” Mehbooba said.
The former chief minister said the BJP is bulldozing everything including the Constitution. She said it scrapped Article 370 saying it will integrate Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country.
“I don’t know about the integration but the destruction is massive. All the institutions including the media have been weaponised. They also want to subjugate the judiciary,” she said.
Mehbooba added she would not say much on the judiciary to avoid a contempt case.
Ruling party members and ministers are free to say anything e.g. Kiren Rijiju who keep speaking against the judiciary and gets away with it, she said
“The laws brought in after Article 370 removal have been weaponised to an extent that when you visit Jammu and Kashmir, it will resemble Afghanistan because the bulldozer is there. After 370 they destroyed our identity, outsourced our jobs, our land, our minerals, our resources. When I said outsourced it means given to outsiders,” she said.
She said all that was left with us is a roof on our heads because Jammu and Kashmir was the only state where people did not sleep on roads.
“The BJP thought that since they cannot bring the entire country to the standards of Jammu and Kashmir so they will bring Jammu and Kashmir to the level of the rest of the country…,” she said.
People taken out of poverty again slipped down the Below Poverty Line after the BJP come to power, and the party wants to replicate it in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba said.
Mehbooba said that according to the government even the centuries-old Shankaracharya Temple and cantonment built by the erstwhile Maharaja are also on encroached land.
“The latest onslaught is our homes, our lives, our livelihood because houses and shops are being demolished in the name of so-called anti-encroachment drive. This too has been weaponised now.
Till now, the Enforcement Directorate and National Investigation Agency were used against journalists, human rights activists, politicians in the country, but Jammu and Kashmir has a special status where officers have their own units and have competition who can catch and harass more people, she alleged.
“What is happening in Jammu and Kashmir is extreme. Afghanistan which was not the USA’s own territory they bombed in one go but in our state destruction takes place everyday. I don’t think any state would have seen so many bulldozers which are now being moved in Jammu and Kashmir…Irony is crooks, fraudsters, scamsters, conmen have been given 45,000 square meter while land of common people are being snatched,” she said.
Voice of anyone speaking about the Constitution is being crushed, she said.
“Was removal of Article 370 in accordance with the Constitutional provisions?” she asked.
