Now when the campaigning for the first phase of parliamentary elections is at its peak the claim of PDP President Mehbooba Mufti that she as Chief Minister of PDP –BJP coalition government used Agenda Of Alliance (AoA) endorsed by BJP as a political weapon to stop the saffron party from tinkering with Article 370 and article 35-A is a crude joke. Had top BJP leadership shown little bit of respect to the agenda of alliance (AoA) signed by PDP and BJP for running the affairs of the state the Narendra Modi led BJP government at the centre would have filed a simple affidavit to endorse the stand of Mehbooba government on article 35-A guaranteeing state subject and property rights to the people of Jammu & Kashmir state. The denial of the Modi government to file an affidavit required for ending the current legal row over article 35-A shows that BJP despite sharing power with PDP never suspended its stand on article 35-A. Violating the commitment to leave contentious issues untouched the top BJP leadership did not try to persuade one RSS affiliated NGO “ We the people” to withdraw the petition filed by it against article 35-A against the supreme court of the country and interestingly Mehbooba Mufti too never bothered to ask the top BJP leadership to persuade the said NGO to withdraw the petition against article 35-A from the Supreme Court of India. Though Mehbooba Mufti’s claim that she as chief minister engaged the country’s top constitutional expert Fali S Nariman to defend article 35-A in the supreme court of the country is unquestionable but it is also a fact that had DPP not retained the portfolio of law department, the saffron party won’t have allowed Mehbooba to engage constitutional experts for defending article 35-A in the supreme court of the country. Mehbooba can’t dispute the fact that BJP allowed and encouraged its hard core affiliates to file suits against the historical judgment on article 370 by the then Judge of Jammu & Kashmir high court Justice Hasnain Masoodi.
Mehbooba Mufti’s claim that her tough posturing on contentious issues like article 370, article 35-A , the crime branch investigation into the rape and murder of Kathua minor girl Asifa, unilateral ceasefire and amnesty to stone pelters forced BJP to end its alliance with PDP is disputed by the fact that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh did not concede the PDP’s demand on return of two power project and withdrawal of troops from Tatoo ground Batmaloo and army high ground Anantnag. Though Mehbooba Mufti is trying to sell lies by claiming that she used Agenda of Alliance (AoA) as a political tool to stop BJP from tinkering with contentious issues particularly article 370 and article 35-A but her lies on emotive political issues won’t revive her party with the people at grass root ahead of parliamentary elections in the state .