NC, Farooq Abdullah Should Clarify Stand On Dalut’s Article 370 Claim: Mehbooba Mufti

JAMMU, APROL 21 – PDP supremo Mehbooba Mufti on Monday demanded the NC and its president Farooq Abdullah clarify ex-RAW chief A S Dulat’s claim in his latest book that the senior Abdullah would have “helped” pass the proposal to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir’s special status had he been taken into confidence.
Describing the revelation made in Dulat’s book ‘The Chief Minister and the Spy’ as “a serious matter,” Mufti asserted that Abdullah and the NC owe an explanation to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Dulat Sahab is very sympathetic and a friend of the Abdullah family. He said that Farooq Sahab had told him, ‘why didn’t the BJP take confidence in me? What was the need to deploy so many troops? If they had consulted me, I would have helped in ending Article 370 through the assembly. There was no need to create such a commotion’,” Mufti told reporters here.
According to Dulat’s account in the book, Farooq Abdullah had expressed disappointment over not being taken into confidence by the BJP ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
Last week, Farooq Abdullah dismissed Dulat’s claims as a “cheap stunt” to boost the sales of the top spy’s memoir. He had suggested that Dulat’s motive behind penning the book could be an attempt to reach the power corridors or earn a lot of money.
Latching on to the opportunity to slam her political rival and the ruling party in the Union Territory, Mehbooba said Dulat did not make the remarks out of malice but as a well-wisher of the Abdullah family.
“He didn’t say it to cause harm, but out of concern so that somehow Farooq Sahab and the BJP could have harmonious relations and work together. He (Abdullah) should be in the good books of BJP to work together,” she added.
As the claims in Dulat’s book caused a swirl in the Union Territory’s political scenario, the PDP chief targeted Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his remarks on Dulat’s comments about her father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. “Omar Sahab talks about Mufti Sahab, but he said many small things. It is not such a big issue,” she said.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hit out at Mehbooba Mufti, saying, “If she believes everything that Dulat writes is true, then should we also consider what he wrote about her father in his first book as true?”
The PDP chief questioned senior Abdullah’s alleged remarks on Article 370, saying his willingness to help BJP through the assembly is a “big issue”.
“Farooq Sahab should clarify his stand to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the National Conference should also give a clarification to the people,” she said.
Raising questions about the meeting between the Abdullahs and Prime Minister Narendra Modi before Article 370 abrogation, she said, “What were Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah doing at the Prime Minister’s office on August 3? What happened there? The National Conference never disclosed what happened.”
People deserve to know what transpired during the Abdullahs’ visit to the Prime Minister’s office on August 3, just days before the abrogation, Mehbooba added.
Quoting the late Devender Singh Rana, senior BJP leader and one-time close confidant of Omar Abdullah, the PDP chief further referred to a meeting between the Abdullahs with the BJP leadership in New Delhi in 2016, alleging that they were ready to support the BJP to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to the allegation that the PDP brought RSS into Jammu and Kashmir’s governance, she said her party had tied the BJP’s hands for three years on the issue of Article 370 during the time of the coalition government.
“Did they (BJP) touch Article 370 then? If I had supported them, I would still be the chief minister and nobody could have touched me. We did not support them.
“Instead, it was Farooq Sahab who said that if the BJP had consulted him, he would have supported them in scrapping Article 370 through the assembly,” she alleged.