Farooq Abdullah hits back at BJP over 'Pakistani agenda' barb

Srinagar, Sep 21 (PTI) National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday hit back at the BJP, alleging that it was labelling the opposition parties as agents of Pakistan to hide its own mistakes.
     The former chief minister also urged the Election Commission to provide a level playing field, alleging that the BJP was providing resources and other support to independent candidates in the Kashmir Valley.
     Responding to the allegations of BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, that NC, PDP and Congress were implementing Pakistan's agenda, Abdullah said the BJP keeps on raising the bogey of Pakistan to diver attention from its shortcomings.
     "They raise Pakistan now and then. They commit mistakes themselves but accuse us of being Pakistanis. They allege that Rahul Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah's alliance has been formed because of directions from Pakistan.
     "What do we have to do with Pakistan? We are Indians. How can they say such things? I think they themselves are Pakistanis but are portraying us as a danger," he told reporters here.
     Referring to the recent spike in terror incidents in the Jammu region, the NC president asked whether the BJP will still blame Article 370 for it.
     "They used to say that Article 370 was responsible for terror here. Today, they are in power, has terror ended? There was an encounter in Reasi. So, is Article 370 responsible even today?"
     The former Union minister alleged that the BP government bifurcated and downgraded J-K into two union territories because of its Muslim majority character.
     "I will say this on their face that they downgraded us into a UT because we were a Muslim-majority state. They divided this state," he said.
     Asserting that J-K's statehood will be restored, Abdullah said the BJP was on "crutches", apparently referring to the support of JD(U) and TDP to the BJP-led government.
     "A time will come when we will get our statehood back. The whole of India stands with us. Today, the BJP is on the crutches. They say one nation, one election, I want to ask them if this is a federal structure or not.
     "There are state governments which make Delhi stronger. If Delhi has to become stronger, then first the states have to be strong," he said, adding if full statehood is not restored, "we will protest it and then take full statehood".
     Cautioning the people of Kashmir against independent and "proxy" candidates, the NC chief said the BJP knew they could not win any seats in the Valley, so several independent candidates were fielded to divide the votes.
     "They released these people like Engineer Rashid, he is not an engineer. They jailed him, so why did they release him? They wanted to divide people," he said.
     Abdullah also called on the Election Commission to provide a level playing field.
     "All the proxy candidates are because of them, their money. While all the help is given to them, our people, our workers, are being jailed. Then they say there is a free election.
     "I want to tell the EC that we want a free election in which everyone can speak freely and move freely, and vote freely. The EC should see why there is pressure on our workers. This should not happen," he said.
     He, however, exuded confidence that the people would support the NC-Congress alliance.
     "The BJP knows their ship has sunk. Otherwise, what was the need for Amit Shah to come here and campaign," he said.
     "Had they (BJP) any courage, they would have fought on their own here (in Kashmir), on their own symbol," he added.
     Abdullah said the BJP will not succeed by fielding independent candidates, and "the people will give a tight slap to the party".

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)