| Central BJP has given a freehand to CM, says Naeem | | 'BJP leaders, ministers apologize' | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 25: Senior PDP leader, minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government and government spokesperson, Naeem Akhtar, has again spoken. This time on the BJP high command, BJP ministers and leaders and relations between the BJP high command and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and between her and the local BJP ministers and leaders. He has sought to clear all cobwebs of confusion and establish that it is the PDP whose writ runs in the government and that the BJP is their just to follow what the Chief Minister does and say.
"When we (PDP) joined this alliance, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. It has been a work in progress. And now we have reached a stage where our disagreements no longer threaten the alliance. Our alliance is far more stable than it was a year ago," claimed Public Works Minister Naeem Akhtar of the PDP, who is also the spokesman of the J&K government.
Citing what he termed as "administrative work", Naeem Akhtar said that the "allies - PDP and BJP -- are working in tandem", and added "hardly has any administrative decision taken by Mehbooba Mufti been blocked by the BJP". "The (BJP's) central leadership has given her a free hand," the government spokesperson was quoted as saying.
"The Centre has made an effort to 'treat Kashmir differently, positively, as a special case. Whenever there is an incident where Kashmiri students are beaten up outside J&K, there is instant action. From the home minister to the chief minister of the state, everybody reacts," he also said.
Akhtar didn't stop just here. He went on to say that BJP ministers and leaders had on occasions more than one withdrew their statements and tendered apology because they were hurtful towards another community (minority community) and that had the PDP and the BJP not entered into an alliance in 2015, the entire state would have been in strife.
"If they hadn't aligned with the BJP, that had Jammu's mandate, not just the Valley, the entire state would have been in strife. Jammu has become the most stable and safe place, at least in the last two years. It used to be communally the most vulnerable. One person would die in a cow-related violence and seven people would be in jail facing murder charges. Now there have been several instances where BJP leaders and ministers have had to withdraw their statements and apologise because they were hurtful towards another community. Where does it happen in India today?", Akhtar said.
Interestingly, Akhtar also dismissed the Congress party as a Hindutva party. Commenting on the growing tensions, Naeem Akhtar said: "The situation in Kashmir has to be seen in the context of 'the larger situation in India currently'. 'It is all Hindutva now. The Congress is one shade less Hindutva, but it is Hindutva. Circumstances are such that Muslims are being alienated across India…Rahul Gandhi goes to Bahrain to take a picture with a Muslim but doesn't want to be seen with Muslims during the Gujarat elections".
What Akhtar said should made it clear that the BJP is there in the state government only to carry forward the PDP's agenda and programme. The fact that Akhtar said that the BJP hardly blocked any of the Chief Minister's proposal should establish that Jammu has little or no say in the government. |
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