New Delhi: The Mehbooba Mufti government in Jammu and Kashmir should be “dismissed” and President’s rule be imposed in the state, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said on Saturday.
Speaking on the continuing unrest in the Valley, Swamy alleged that the PDP-BJP coalition experiment has “failed” while adding that military might was necessary to quell the protests.
“Initially we, the BJP government thought that since we won Jammu and Ladakh and the PDP won Kashmir, we should experiment. But many people, including I, believe that the experiment has failed… (The Mehbooba Mufti govenment should) not just resign, this government should be dismissed,” Swamy said.
He was speaking at the India Today Mind Rocks Summit here during the session ‘The Patriot Act’. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi was the other panelist.
During the noisy debate, Swamy branded Owaisi an “anti-national”, triggering loud cheers from the crowd, overwhelmingly consisting of youth waving mini tricolours.
The organisers distributed the flags among the students just before the beginning of the session at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
“If we go by modern science, the ancestors of Indian Muslims were Hindus. If a Muslim is not ready to admit it, then he may be a patriot, but he will be an anti-national… Owaisi is rashtra-birodhi (anti-national),” Swamy said.
Owaisi, who had courted controversy by refusing to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, said the Indian Constitution imposes no such obligation on a citizen.
“There is an attempt to impose Hindu nationalism in India instead of Indian nationalism, which is more inclusive. One should not be forced to chant a particular slogan,” Owaisi said.
Swamy’s remarks on why “they” were not ready to shift Babri Masjid, was also cheered by the crowd.
During the sparring, Owaisi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned the lack of “continuity” in the Centre’s policy towards Kashmir and Pakistan.
“Force cannot solve the Kashmir dispute. We need to adopt a consistent policy. Harping on Balochistan won’t help. We have no geographical continuity with Balochistan,” Owaisi said.