We Are Anti-BJP, Not Anti-National: Farooq Abdullah Says After Gupkar Alliance Meeting

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which is fighting for restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is an anti-BJP platform but not an anti-national amalgam.

"I want to tell you that this false propaganda by the BJP that the PAGD is anti-national. I want to tell them that this is not true. There is no doubt that it is anti-BJP but it is not anti-national," he told reporters here.

The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar was elected chairman of the PAGD after the first meeting of the amalgam at the residence of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.

Abdullah said the BJP has tried to break the federal structure through acts like abrogation of Article 370 and dividing Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

"They have tried to destroy the constitution of the country, they have tried to divide the nation, to break the federal structure which we saw what they did on August 5 last year,” the NC president said.

"I want to tell them that this (PAGD) is not an anti-national jamaat. Our aim is that people of Jammu Kashmir, and Ladakh should get their rights back. That's where our battle is, our battle is not for more than that," he said.

Abdullah said BJP was doing propaganda against the constituents of the PAGD in Jammu and elsewhere in the country.

"They are trying to divide us (people of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh) in the name of religion. This attempt will not succeed. This is not a religious battle, this is a fight for our identity and for that identity, we are standing together," he said. PTI

JK Cong Flays Mehbooba’s 'Irresponsible' Remarks

Asking former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to desist from making “highly provocative and irresponsible” remarks on the national flag, the Congress unit in the Union Territory on Saturday condemned the PDP chief's statement on the tricolour.

Reacting to Mufti's statement on the national flag, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said she has “hurt the patriotic sentiments” of  people.

"Such statements are intolerable and unacceptable in any society," he said.

Sharma said "she should desist from making such outrageous utterances to hurt the sentiments of every Indian."

In her first media interaction after her release from 14 months of detention, Mufti on Friday said she personally, she would hold the tricolour only when the separate flag of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored.

"As far as I am concerned, I have no interest in elections. Till the time the Constitution under which I used to contest elections is returned to us, Mehbooba Mufti has got nothing to do with elections, let me tell you that," she said.

In an act seen as defiance, the flag of the erstwhile state was prominently placed on a table in front of the PDP president, along with the flag of her party, during the press conference. It was for the first time that the PDP displayed the flag of the erstwhile state at a party function or a presser.

"When this flag of ours is restored, we will hold that flag (tricolour) also," she said.