Mehbooba slams BJP, NC over development in J&K
Jammu: Launching a scathing attack on the BJP and the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday accused them of failing to deliver on development and peace in Jammu and Kashmir despite getting a huge mandate from people.
She invoked former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s legacy and emphasized the region’s issues cannot be solved from Delhi but only through unity among the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The BJP, which has been in power both in Delhi and the Union Territory since 2018, has completely failed to bring peace and development to Jammu. Tell me, what has the BJP done for Jammu after getting 30 seats? Unemployment is at its peak, resources have been handed over to outsiders and inflation has broken people’s backs,” the PDP president said while addressing a function in connection with the party’s 26th anniversary.
She also accused the National Conference, which secured 50 seats, of offering empty promises without delivering any results.
“Then comes the National Conference, saying give us votes and we will give free electricity, 12 gas cylinders a year, jobs to youth and stop the mining mafia from outside looting our sand and gravel. But now it’s been a year and what has the BJP done — the party to which you gave 30 seats? What has the National Conference done to whom you gave 50 seats? Nothing,” said Mufti.
“Until there is complete peace, there can be no development. The BJP keeps fooling the people of Jammu, while the National Conference continues to mislead the entire region,” she added.
The PDP chief stressed that peace must be established internally before looking to Delhi for solutions.
“Mufti Mohammad Sayeed always said that the challenges of unemployment, underdevelopment and unrest affect the entire state — not just one region,” she said, adding Jammu and Kashmir remains backward despite abundant natural and human resources.
“Mufti Sahab said that the issues of Jammu and Kashmir — the unrest, the deteriorating situation and lack of progress — must be addressed. Our state’s water generates electricity for the entire country. We have Neelam stones here, which are considered precious. We also have high-quality marble. We have blue sapphire. Our youth are among the most intelligent in the country. Still, we are backward. Why?” the PDP chief asked.
“Mufti Sahab believed that the solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir does not lie in Delhi, but here in our own state. People in Kashmir think one way and people in Jammu think another. When Kashmir moves in one direction, Jammu moves in another. Mufti Sahab used to sit in Jammu even during the summer. I would ask him why he was here in the heat and he would say — until the people of Jammu and Kashmir think alike and walk the same path, the problem cannot be resolved,” she said.
Reaffirming the PDP’s commitment to peace, Mufti recalled how her father had left the Congress to build a political alternative focused on dignity and dialogue.
“Mufti Sahab didn’t want peace through force, but peace with dignity,” she said.
“That’s why Mufti Sahab said that he was leaving the Congress and forming this party — because he wanted to restore peace. He wanted to end the rule of the gun in Kashmir. He wanted peace, not through force or at the barrel of a gun, but peace with dignity. That’s what former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also wanted,” she added.
“He didn’t hand over Kashmir to Pakistan but talked about peace and development,” the PDP chief said.
Reflecting on the impact of conflict in the border areas like Poonch, she said, “For the first time, people in Jammu have seen what war truly means — how children and women suffer. What do we gain from it?”
The PDP president reiterated that her party was founded to promote peace with dignity.
“Mufti Sahab left the Congress to end the gun culture in Kashmir.”
