The BJP has allegedly utilised the suffering of the Kashmiri Pandit community as a “weapon” to secure votes nationwide, claimed People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday. The PDP president made these remarks following her visit to the home of Roshan Lal, a Kashmiri Pandit and photojournalist who died last month in the Abi Guzar area of the city.
Mehbooba accused the BJP of exploiting the pain of Kashmiri Pandits not only using the community as a vote bank but also as a tool to gain votes from others. She said that the Pandit community itself did not possess a significant number of votes, yet the BJP cashed in on their suffering to canvass votes in their name without providing any substantial assistance.
Incidentally or otherwise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other leaders of the BJP never mentioned the plight of Pandits — Kashmir’s native Hindu people — as the reason to abrogate Article 370. For the past five years since the special law for Jammu and Kashmir was repealed, they repeatedly cited reasons such as equal rights to the Dalit community that has been working for decades in the valley without enjoying the rights of a full-fledged Indian citizen and economic development of the region.
Mehbooba, a former chief minister of the former state, said that since the BJP-led union government took direct control of Jammu and Kashmir, even such Kashmiri Pandits who resided there departed due to the deteriorating situation.
She praised Lal, a close friend of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, for choosing to stay in the valley despite the challenges depicted in certain films like The Kashmir Files.
“Kashmiris are defamed across the country, films are made about them. I think Lal living here amid brotherhood is the answer to those films. There was a huge rush of people to pay their condolences after Lal’s death. This is the biggest example of brotherhood,” she said.
Mehbooba said that the coexistence of Muslims and Hindus in the region, exemplified by Lal’s presence, should serve as a reminder to all about the importance of communal harmony and tolerance.
Mehbooba stated that the Kashmiri Pandits did not require assistance from any government to return to the valley. Mufti did not care to explain the targeted killings of Hindus including Pandits in the former state.
“Our Kashmiri Pandit brothers and sisters living in Jammu or elsewhere in very difficult circumstances, I think they don’t need help from anyone to settle here — whether the government is of the BJP or Mehbooba Mufti or someone else. The people of Kashmir want the Kashmiri Pandits to return,” she said.
