Srinagar locals heckled and protested against Farooq Abdullah when he visited the mosque by hurled shoes and disrupting the congregation. He was forced to leave the prayer ground.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah was heckled during Eid prayers at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar on Wednesday for chanting "Bharat maata ki jai" and "Jai Hind" while paying his tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The crowd began to jeer at Abdullah even before the imam leading the congregational prayers could begin the Eid sermon.

Local residents at the dargah in Srinagar heckled and protested against the leader when he visited the mosque. Dozens of youth also hurled shoes and disrupted the congregation, forcing Abdullah to leave the prayer ground.

Hazratbal dargah, where the former chief minister was heckled, is considered a traditional National Conference bastion.

Reacting to the taunting, the National Conference chief said he was not scared of anyone. "If they (the hecklers) think that this act will bring freedom, I would like to tell them to free themselves from disease, hunger and beggary first," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Today, the time has come to have a peaceful dialogue between India and Pakistan. There is a need to get rid of hatred. This country belongs to Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians and all those who live here: Farooq Abdullah pic.twitter.com/EUJAczRF9c — ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2018

In a conversation with News18, Abdullah called the hecklers "urchins" and said they should remember that Kashmir is a part of India. Twitter users also did not hold back on their criticism of Abdullah.

There is no Indian in Kashmir like Farooq Abdullah. Similarly, there is no Pakistani in Kashmir like Farooq Abdullah. He is the ultimate manifestation of our confusion. — Junaid Qureshi (@JQ_plaintalk) August 21, 2018

Stop Mr Farooq Abdullah ,your praises for Vajpyee jee carry no logic.He buried ur autonomy resolution & prince Umar Abdullah still continued in his cabnit.Sorry to say ur dynasty has always stabbed https://t.co/yc73a11UmW build ur bridges using our blood & Skelton — Er. Rasheed (@mlalangate) August 17, 2018

Maja as gaya... What a moment to see Farooq Abdullah chanting nationalist slogans and behaving like one of us.. Nice welcome feeling.. Keep it up Farooq Abdullah and family and it will be a new beginning for J&K — Booknest.in (@nkgupta22) August 22, 2018

Nothing surprising about that bit of Showmanship! #FarooqAbdullah is known to sing 'secular' bhajans in Delhi & openly advocate Separatism while delivering fiery speeches in Kashmir! — RD (@DharRenuka) August 20, 2018

With inputs from IANS