The Jammu and Kashmir wing of the BJP has demanded action against National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah for his alleged defence of the stone-pelters in the valley.
Abdullah, who is contesting the Srinagar parliamentary constituency byelections, stirred a hornets’ nest when he described stone-pelters as people “fighting for the nation”. His statements followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the Kashmiri youths to choose between “terrorism and tourism”. Abdullah said the stone-pelters were “not for tourism”, while claiming that history will remember the ruling People’s Democratic Party, ally of the BJP, as RSS’ wing in Kashmir.
The BJP was scathing of Abdullah, who they said was spreading anti-national sentiment and inciting the youth in the Kashmir valley to fight the security forces at the encounter sites. “If the stone-pelters are fighting for the ‘nation’, why is he (Farooq) and his son (Omar Abdullah) not joining them?” a BJP leader from Kashmir said, while talking to this newspaper. The state BJP leaders have demanded an FIR against the NC veteran.
J&K Deputy CM Nirmal Singh said that Farooq Abdullah was trying to glorify the stone-pelters. Abdullah had also accused PM Modi of skirting political issues by shifting focus to development and tourism. “I want to tell the PM that the Kashmiri youths have decided to fight till the finish and New Delhi should understand their sentiment,” Farooq had said.