Congress laid foundation of brotherhood in India after 1947 bloodshed: Mehbooba

Crediting the Congress for laying the foundation of communal harmony and brotherhood in the country following the communal bloodshed in 1947, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday lambasted the BJP for again pushing India towards divisiveness on religious lines.

”Congress ruled for 50 years…. Congress may have made big blunders, but its leaders laid the foundation of brotherhood and communal harmony post 1947 when Hindus killed Muslims and Muslims killed Hindus,” Mehbooba said at a function in the Vijaypur area of Samba district.

”If at that time it would not have been Congress but BJP in power, the situation of the country could have been different. Can you imagine what would have been the situation in this country,” she told the gathering as she praised first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s secular credentials.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said Pakistani founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah divided this country in the past and today every attempt is being made to divide the country once again on communal lines.

”These people (BJP) want another division…. Jinnah made one Pakistan but they want to make many Pakistans by dividing this country,” she alleged.

Mehbooba said the BJP is invoking Mughal emperors Babur and Aurangzeb who are irrelevant for the country now.

The BJP is adopting former Pakistani president Zia-ul-Haq’s formula of using religion to divide the people, she alleged.

On the controversy surrounding wearing of hijab in schools, the PDP chief alleged, ”Right now they (BJP) are asking girls not to wear hijab, they will ask all of us to wear ‘bhagwa’ (saffron) clothes in the coming days.”