Vajpayee formula only way forward, PDP-BJP coalition was ‘Mahamilawat’: PM Modi

Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s formula is the way forward to resolve the Kashmir issue and that the coalition between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a ‘Mahamilawat’ (mixture) of oil and water.
“Atal Ji formula of Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat is the only way forward,” PM Modi said on the sidelines of his Varanasi road show on Thursday.
He said that few families in Kashmir say one thing to people in New Delhi and when they go back to Kashmir they say another thing to people there. “A handful of families who say one thing in New Delhi and other in Kashmir need to come out of the hypocrisy,” Modi said.
The prime minister also referred to the coalition between PDP-BJP as a ‘Mahamilawat’ (mixture).
“A handful of people have blackmailed the people of Kashmir. When we were with Mufti Sahab, we thought that we will come out of it. But that was our Mahamilawat like mixture of oil and water,” Modi said.
He said that both the parties agreed to come together despite different ideologies. “The mandate was such that we had to forge an alliance. However, we left the alliance for democracy. We wanted to have the Panchayat elections in the state,” the prime minister said.
Reiterating that Modi does not want advice on the issue of Kashmir, the prime minister said that he has been to many parts of the state in the past so understands the state well.
“I already have an understating on Kashmir. There was no need for me to be in power for five years to understand Kashmir. In the past, I have been to Kashmir many times and know people and the areas there,” Modi said.
The prime minister had also snubbed the former two-time chief minister and the veteran politician of the State of Jammu and Kashmir late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed at a public rally in 2015 saying that ‘he (Modi) does not need advice of anyone on Kashmir’.