J&K laboratory for BJP to test its ‘divide & rule policy’: Mehbooba

Jammu: Accusing the BJP government of dividing people of Jammu and Kashmir on religious lines, Peoples Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that J&K is a laboratory for BJP to test its ‘divide & rule policy’.
“Earlier, there were strikes in Kashmir only, but now they are taking place in Jammu. “J&K is a laboratory where they (BJP) are testing its ‘divide & rule policy’. It (policy) will then be applied to other states,” she alleged while speaking to reporters.
She said that the Central Government has put the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on sale.
“Jammu and Kashmir has been put on sale by the central government for the people from outside. They want us to become bankrupt in order to make us dependent on people from other states,” Ms Mufti said.
She also claimed that all projects which were launched during her tenure as the chief minister of the erstwhile state have been halted by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
On liquor trade, she said, “the contracts of liquor businesses under the excise policy have been given to outsiders. Liquor will be consumed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir but the profit will go to outsiders.”
She claimed all big projects, including mining contracts, have been allotted to outsiders.
Supporting the Jammu traders’ call for bandh on Wednesday against the opening of Reliance Retail stores in the city, Mufti said that these big stores will destroy small businesses.
“The BJP dubs those who raise any issue as anti-nationals. A sardar ji becomes Khalistani, we are dubbed as Pakistanis, BJP people only call themselves as Hindustanis,” she said.
“Vajpayee ji and Nehru ji had a vision for Kashmir. They knew what they had to do on the economic, political and emotional fronts but this government has no vision,” she said