Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday termed the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) as the “Gupkar gang” and accused the alliance of reaching out to international organisations and seeking their intervention in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Gupkar Gang is going global! They want foreign forces to intervene in Jammu and Kashmir. The Gupkar Gang also insults India’s Tricolour. Do Sonia Ji and Rahul Ji support such moves of the Gupkar Gang ? They should make their stand crystal clear to the people of India,” Amit Shah tweeted.
The home minister also alleged that the Congress and the PAGD were working towards creating an atmosphere of ‘terror and turmoil’ in J&K. “Congress and the Gupkar Gang want to take J&K back to the era of terror and turmoil. They want to take away rights of Dalits, women and tribals that we have ensured by removing Article 370. This is why they’re being rejected by the people everywhere,” Shah said adding that J&K will always remain an integral part of India.
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In response, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti accused the BJP of violating the constitution and questioned what was wrong in forming an alliance. “Earlier BJPs narrative was that the tukde tukde gang threatened India’s sovereignty & they are now using ‘Gupkar Gang’ euphemism to project us as anti-nationals. Irony died a million deaths since its BJP itself that violates the constitution day in & day out,” Mehbooba tweeted.
“Fighting elections in an alliance is also anti-national now. BJP can stitch as many alliances in its hunger for power but somehow we are undermining national interest by putting up a united front. BJPs stale tactic of dividing India by projecting themselves as saviours & political opponents as internal & imagined enemies is far too predictable now. Love jihad, tukde tukde & now Gupkar Gang dominates the political discourse instead of like rising unemployment & inflation,” Mehbooba added.
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Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah also hit out at Amit Shah and said that only in J&K political leaders can be called anti-national for participating in elections. “Only in J&K can leaders be detained & called anti-national for participating in elections & supporting the democratic process. The truth is all those who oppose the ideology of the BJP are labelled “corrupt & anti-national,” Omar tweeted.
The Gupkar declaration is a resolution passed by the NC, PDP, Congress, People’s Conference, and by other smaller parties including Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) led by Engineer Rashid, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement led by Shah Faesal. The resolution was passed on August 4, 2019, in an attempt by the parties to defend J&K’s special status. However, on August 5, 2019, the BJP government revoked Article 370.
Earlier this year on August 22, the signatories of the Gupkar resolution issued a joint statement describing the abrogation of Article 370 as an unconstitutional move and claimed that the identity and the rights of the people of J&K were at stake. After the government announced elections to the district development council, the PAGD decided to fight the elections as a coalition.
Analysts claim the BJP was expecting the alliance to boycott the polls and the alliance’s decision to contest has unnerved the BJP. Political commentators also believe that the BJP is trying to consolidate Hindu votes in Jammu ahead of the district council polls by branding the political alliance as ant-national.
