With one-time arch-rivals PDP and BJP set to form government in Jammu and Kashmir, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig today quoted the saffron party’s ideologue Shyama Prasad Mukherjee as he spoke about India’s rich and plural civilisational heritage.
“I am glad to note that the subject which is close to my heart was touched by the President in his speech, and I quote: ‘Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had said the greatest strength of India is her rich spiritual and civilisational heritage’,” Baig said as he began his address in Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
In his address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee had quoted Mukherjee, who had died in a Jammu and Kashmir jail in 1953 after being arrested for entering the state without permit, as the law demanded then.
Baig, a former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister, is seen as one of key votaries of a tie-up with BJP to form government in the volatile state.
Both parties have ironed out their differences and reached a consensus on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) that will form the basis of their unique coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir to be sworn-in on Sunday.
–PTI