The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday asked PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti to clear her stand on her party’s “deal” with the BJP even as it dared her to publicly denounce Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as an anti-national.
In an open letter to Ms Mufti, AAP leader Kumar Vishwas asked her to accept as “mistake” her “hailing” Guru as a martyr in the past, saying it would help dispel the misunderstandings over the BJP-PDP deal, he said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted, “Mehbooba ji shud publicly clear her stand on this deal with BJP.”
Ms Mufti will stake claim to form the government at a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir governor N.N. Vohra Saturday afternoon.
“We have come to know from sources that you have changed your stand on traitor Afzal Guru. According to the terms of the alliance, you now consider him to be an anti-national and you regret your old stand. It is praiseworthy and we appreciate it,” the letter said.
Alleging that action against Kashmiri students who had raised “anti-national” slogans at JNU was stalled due to Ms Mufti, the AAP hoped that following the government formation in the state, she will arrest them or assist the Centre in doing so.
“You now consider Kashmir to be an integral part of India like patriots like us. We congratulate you in advance for forming the government with the BJP under these conditions.”
“Please clarify to the media stating that hailing Afzal Guru as a martyr was your mistake and you consider him to be an anti-national like us,” it said.
The Aam Aadmi Party also began a social media campaign #SpeakUpMeh-booba. A series of tweets put out by the party’s official account accused Ms Mufti of betraying Kashm-iris and “Kashmiriyat” by indulging in political opportunism.
“Relationships of convenience make ideology irrelevant as the PDP forms govt with BJP. BJP and PDP are allies. PDP is Afzal sympathiser. So now, BJP too is Afzal sympathiser Mehbo-oba shatters the confidence of the kashmiris, leaves them like orphans,” the tweets said.
