Mehbooba Mufti turns fact-checker after Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on Vajpayee’s JK policy

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has countered Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday for his remarks that the policies of the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government set the Kashmir Valley on fire. The Congress president made this remark while interacting with the students of Stella Maris College in Chennai.

"On the contrary, it was Vajpayee ji's visionary leadership and political largesse that steered Jammu and Kashmir from falling into an abyss. He left an indelible mark in people's hearts. Sad that political compulsions force leaders to misinform the masses for electoral gains," Mufti said while quoting News Nation's story.

On the contrary, it was Vajpayee ji’s visionary leadership & political largesse that steered J&K from falling into an abyss. He left an indelible mark in people’s hearts. Sad that political compulsions forces leaders to misinform the masses for electoral gains. https://t.co/8T6U8bcj9x

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 13, 2019

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies on Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi said these were setting fire to the state and blamed the Centre for not strategically and systematically handling terrorism. As soon as PM Modi assumed power, he made a 'huge mistake' of forging an alliance with the PDP just for the sake of power.

Gandhi underscored the need to engage the people of Kashmir and bring them 'on our side.' The prime minister's policies "pushes the people away so you cannot fight terrorism with one off gestures," he said.

Noting that it was "our responsibility" to stop the neighbouring country from carrying out terror strikes and save our people, Gandhi said, "It is not good enough to say that 45 CRPF men died and now we will do something."

He sought to know why the attack (in Pulwama) was not stopped in the first place.

Claiming that the Congress pursued a policy of systematic and strategic approach in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the NDA government had not followed a similar policy.

"We actually crushed terrorism," he said and referred to the "drastic fall" in the number of soldiers and people killed during UPA's tenure. The Congress followed a multi-pronged approach when it came to power in 2004 and toed both systematic and strategic lines, he said.

"And it was successful," he said adding it led to diplomatic isolation of Pakistan. Gandhi also called his party's minimum income guarantee scheme a revolutionary idea.

With PTI Inputs