15-3-2023 : PDP President Mehbooba Mufti criticized the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Jammu and Kashmir, accusing the BJP-led Centre of using it to divert attention from pressing issues like unemployment and the Adani controversy. She called the demolition drive a diversion tactic from the Adani issue and the damage it has done to the country’s economy. Mehbooba also dismissed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments on the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying they were empty promises. She accused the BJP of branding the people of Jammu and Kashmir as anti-nationals in the past and now labelling them as encroachers.
According to Mehbooba, the administration is carrying out anti-people measures to keep them too busy to think about anything else. She urged people to take control of their land, be it through mohalla committees or panchayats. She also said that the alliance with the BJP after the 2014 assembly elections was her father’s well-thought-out decision to prevent the current situation. She criticized the proposal to make Hindi language compulsory in all schools in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the Centre should try it in southern India first.
Regarding the Income Tax department’s survey operations at BBC offices, Mehbooba said there was nothing new about it, as similar measures were adopted against journalists in Kashmir. She said the action against the BBC India was sending a wrong message internationally and damaging India’s image as a democracy. She alleged that opposition voices, be it journalists or politicians, are being suppressed, and such acts of hooliganism started from Jammu and Kashmir. The Income Tax department continued its survey operation against the BBC India for the second day, making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organization. #JammuAndKashmir #AntiEncroachmentDrive #MehboobaMufti #PressFreedom #TaxEvasion