Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that her party would bring back the state flag and not abandon the battle for special status for Jammu and Kashmir, reported The Indian Express.
“My flag is this,” Mufti said, pointing to the Jammu and Kashmir flag. “When this flag comes back, we’ll raise that flag [Indian tricolour] too. Until we get our own flag back, we won’t raise any other flag…This flag forged our relationship with that flag.”
Jammu and Kashmir had a state flag before the Centre on August 5, 2019, abrogated the special status granted to the erstwhile state under Article 370. After its revocation, the flag, which used to fly alongside the Indian tricolour on the state civil secretariat, was removed.
Mufti also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying that the country runs on the Constitution and not the party’s manifesto. “The people of Jammu and Kashmir are expendable to them [the Centre], what they want is territory,” she said at a press conference.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state also said that she will not “abandon” Kashmir, adding that those who think so are mistaken, according to NDTV. She vowed not only to restore Article 370 but also to find a solution for the Kashmir problem.
The PDP chief further criticised the revocation of Article 370 and said that Parliament had no power to take it away. “A robber may be mighty, but he has to return the stolen goods,” she said, adding that this “dictatorship” will not go on for long.
She also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his comments on Article 370 during his rally in Bihar ahead of the state Assembly elections, India Today reported. Mufti claimed that the prime minister brought up the topic to get votes as he did not want to discuss real issues.
“They have nothing to show to ask for votes,” Mufti said. “They say you can buy land in Jammu and Kashmir, we have abrogated Article 370. Then they said they will give free vaccines. Today, PM Modi had to speak of Article 370 for votes. This government has failed to solve the issues of this country.”
Earlier in the day, Modi launched an attack on the Opposition for demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370. He said that the demand was an insult to Bihar, which has sent its sons and daughters to the borders.
The PDP chief asserted that she had no interest in fighting any elections “till the time they [the Centre] return what they have taken from us”.
Mufti was on October 13 released from her over one-year detention under the Public Safety Act. She had been in detention since August 5, 2019, the day the Centre abolished the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, bifurcated it into two Union Territories, and imposed a lockdown.
Almost all of the Kashmir Valley’s political leadership, including two other former chief ministers – Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah – were detained last year. Omar Abdullah was released seven months later on March 24 as the Jammu and Kashmir administration revoked his detention order under the Public Safety Act. Farooq Abdullah was released on March 13. People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone was released in July.