Mehbooba Mufti: Won’t fight elections till Art 370 restored, Indian Constitution being replaced by BJP agenda

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti said on Wednesday that she would not contest any election until special status to J&K was restored under Article 370.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mehbooba Mufti said, "When it comes to assembly polls, I will not fight any elections until and unless Jammu and Kashmir's own constitution is brought back, until Article 370 is restored.”

"We have been rivals but for the larger cause of J&K we can all get together. We are Kashmiris at the end of the day. We are not talking only about elections but for the larger cause of restoring what was lost," Mufti said to NDTV.

"Whenever assembly polls are held we will sit together and discuss (on Chief Ministership). I am not in the race," former Jammu and Kashmir CM said.

Mehbooba Mufti also defended her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's decision to partner with the BJP in an alliance that collapsed before time.

"My father made a deal with the devil. Mufti did not join hands with Modi but with the Prime Minister of India, to resolve the problems of Kashmir. My father tried to engage the BJP through an alliance. Our agenda was the same and we entered into the alliance on our terms. They agreed to everything, but after the government fell, they did what they wanted," said Mehbooba Mufti.

The Gupkar alliance won big in the first-ever District Development Council (DDC) polls across 20 districts in J&K. The seven-party alliance, along with the Congress, has won in 13 districts. The BJP has won in six districts in Jammu.

"This is like a referendum on the scrapping of Article 370, and the BJP themselves kept harping on the subject during campaigning. So the result shows that the people of J&K have rejected that narrative. They have thereby rejected scrapping of Article 370," said Mufti to NDTV.

"We will appeal against the Centre's move on Article 370 till our last breath," she said .

Mufti said there were many detentions during the elections. "I myself was detained on four occasions. I was told that I could move out only after voting starts.”

She said that not just in Jammu and Kashmir, throughout the country the Constitution of India was being replaced by the BJP agenda.

"I may be arrested anytime... There is a silence of graveyards here. They have terrorized everyone into silence. What is happening in the country, multiply it by 100. That is what is happening in Kashmir," she said.