Waqf act: Iltija says NC has 'thrown' Kashmiri Muslims under the bus

Srinagar: Peoples' Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti on Tuesday accused the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir of "letting down" the Muslims of the country by not raising its voice against the Waqf Amendment Act.

"Farooq Abdullah should tell us why his party did not bring a resolution in the assembly against the Waqf Bill despite the fact that J&K is the only Muslim majority state in India.

"It is not just the Muslims in J&K who are looking up to us, it is also the Muslims in the rest of the country and this government, the NC, has terribly let them down," she told reporters here.

Iltija was responding to the remarks of the NC president, who on Monday blamed the PDP for converting Auqaf into the state Waqf Board.

"Who converted Auqaf into the state Waqf Board? It was the property of Muslims living here," Abdullah had said, while referring to changing the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Auqaf Trust to state-owned Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board during the chief ministership of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2003.

However, Iltija Mufti slammed the NC for "not talking" about the Waqf Amendment Bill, accusing the ruling party of being "power-hungry".

"You do not want to talk about Muslims. You are normalising (abrogation of) (Article) 370, and whatever wrongs happened with Muslims after (abrogation of) (Article) 370.

"We know Waqf is anti-Muslim, it has been brought to disempower Muslims, NC does not even want to talk about that because it is power-hungry, they want power and chair," she added.

On the NC president's remarks about Auqaf, Iltija said this is the NC's "biggest propaganda".

"Before that, the NC used to give the auctioned Auqaf properties to their own people. What they are saying is a propaganda as the amendment had taken place much before that and Sayeed had not done that.

"Abdullah should say what it has done now. His son (Omar Abdullah) is the CM with 50 MLAs. Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu decided to bring resolutions against Waqf, what was our CM doing?" she asked.

Referring to the ruckus in the J&K assembly in the last three days of the recently concluded session, Iltija said the government did not bring a resolution against Waqf as the NC has a "understanding" with the BJP.

"He (Omar) was roaming around with (Union Minister Kiren) Rijiju in Tulip garden. They already have an understanding with the BJP that they will neither talk about Waqf, nor bring a resolution against it," she said.

"Saying that the Speaker did the right thing as the matter was sub-judice, is a very convenient excuse. Article 370 is also sub-judice, but you (NC) keep on saying that you are fighting for it," she added.

She said the NC MLAs should have brought a no-confidence motion against the Speaker if they were angry with him.

"There is a tacit understanding. NC MLAs did not talk about Waqf, it was only our MLA who did. If you were angry with the Speaker, then why did you not bring a no-confidence motion against him? "The NC is also not talking about the issues on which the BJP is silent. Why? Because they have a tacit understanding," she claimed.

The PDP leader charged that the NC has "thrown" Kashmiri Muslims "under the bus", and is now even "normalising the disempowerment" of Muslims of the country.

On the BJP's chief whip in J&K assembly, Sunil Sharma's remarks that there was no need for the NC to seek the restoration of statehood to J-K as it was the BJP's agenda, Iltija said it was not her party's goal.

"Statehood is not our goal. We belong to the state that had its own constitution, law and flag. We have to fight for that thing as well. The NC is running the BJP's agenda. Statehood is the BJP's agenda, why should we run the BJP's agenda," she said.