The political scene in Jammu and Kashmir is being muddied by its leaders. These leaders promise to free the state of the central government’s tyranny and in the process seem to alienate the state from the rest of the country. PDP President Mehbooba Mufti and the former CM of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah have criticized the Indian government on various steps taken in order to make J&K integrate further with the country.

The PDP President has said “If you free Jammu and Kashmir from Article 370, you will free the state from country as well. I have said many times that Article 370 links J&K with the country. When you break this bridge, India loses its legitimacy over the state. It becomes an occupational force,” This reaction was given by the leader in response to the recently released BJP manifesto.

She also added “The BJP has failed on fronts, be it unemployment, farmer issues or price rise. Now they are looking for issues which they can use to garner votes”. Mufti along with her rude comments is unapologetic to her statements that have a separatist tone. The leader has also referred to J&K as a heap of explosives that should not be played with. She referred to Pulwama attack to support her statements on Kashmir being an explosive.

Mufti with her other party members has strongly opposed the scrapping of the Article 370; in this regard she also said “Why waste time in court. Wait for BJP to scrap Article 370. It will automatically debar us from fighting elections since Indian constitution won’t be applicable to J&K anymore,”

She claimed that removing article 370 would lead to the Indian Constitution as null and void in the region of J&K. In her tweet she quoted the Urdu Poet Allam Iqbal that read, “Na samjho gay tou mit jaouge aye Hindustan walo. Tumhari dastaan tak bhi na hogi dastaano main” (O you people of Hindustan, if you don’t understand, you will perish, your story will be erased from history). The narrative put forth by these Kashmiri leaders is highly separatist and of a threat to the nation and its people.

Why waste time in court. Wait for BJP to scrap Article 370. It will automatically debar us from fighting elections since Indian constitution won’t be applicable to J&K anymore. Na samjho gay tou mit jaouge aye Hindustan walo. Tumhari dastaan tak bhi na hogi dastaano main. https://t.co/3mvp2lndv2 — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 8, 2019

While, the separatist tone assumed by Mufti does not seem to end, Farooq Abdullah has also started to defend Article 370. The Srinagar Contestant has blamed the Prime Minister of the country of the Pulwama attack. He said that Modi has devised the attack to win elections. He said “Modi sahab ko jeetna tha election is liye unhoney yeh karnama (pulwama) kiya”. This is an unacceptable accusation on the Prime Minister of the country that made sure that India retaliates in the most effective way on Pulwama.

The former CM said, “Mahatma Gandhi was killed. It was the RSS people who killed him. It was also banned by Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, because they wanted to create a Hindu Rashtra, which was not accepted by leaders of that time. People who are running the government in Delhi are the ones who are killers of Mahatma Gandhi”. This statement mentioned the RSS and is also a direct criticism of the ruling party of the country.

Omar Abdullah, following the footsteps of his father had recently demanded a separate Prime Minister for Kashmir; he received backlash from the government and the people.

These politicians are spreading separatist feeling in the already difficult state of Jammu and Kashmir. The allegations and accusations made by the leaders on the Indian government as a whole would lead to disintegrate the country. It will encourage the forces who are working in order to break the unity of the country. Terrorist groups like Jais-e-mohmmad and others are encouraged by statements made by such leaders. These leaders seem to be acting exactly like the separatist brigade does.