Srinagar, Sep 12: As he touched down in Srinagar on Thursday morning, parliamentarian and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief, Engineer Rashid bowed on the ground indicating his gratitude of returning to his homeland.
“Tihar bhejna bandh karo, Kashmir ka masla hal karo.” (Stop sending us to Tihar, resolve Kashmir’s issue), he said as his supporters amplifiied his call.
He said the vote in Lok Sabha elections was not for him but against the model of ‘Naya Kashmir’ projected by the Narendra Modi-led central government and their decisions of August 5, 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh’s special status was revoked and the state was downgraded into two separate Union Territories.
Modi’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ was of UAPA, injustice, and force. “The vote for me was the vote against Modi’s ‘Naya Kashmir’, against his decisions of Aug 5 2019,” he said.
Attacking PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and her late father, Rashid said that their betrayal was bigger than of Sheikh Abdullah. For, Mufti’s, he said, they brought the Bharatiya Janata Party to J&K.
If Mehbooba had conscience, she should have apologized to people for joining hands with BJP after they broke the government, Rashid said.
He said, if Mehbooba and Omar show a comprehensive road map to bring Kashmir’s lost status back, “I will ask all my candidates to withdraw forms.”
Commenting on the JKNC’s vice president Omar Abdullah’s move where he literally removed his skull cap to ask people for votes, Rashid said, “if you had talked about Kashmiris and Kashmir after the decisions of Aug 5, 2019, you wouldn’t have needed to beg for votes today.”
He concluded his speech by asking his supporters to, “be humble, don’t welcome me or my party members with garlands.”
