Srinagar: The heat generated over Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju’s selfie with J&K CM Omar Abdullah and his father, Farooq Abdullah, has refused to die down, with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti accusing the CM of cosying up to BJP and Omar reminding her of the ties with BJP to form a coalition govt.
Mehbooba said Rijiju chose to visit Kashmir after the passage of Waqf Amendment Bill to signal to the “24 crore Muslims across India that their views hold little weight” and Omar facilitated it. “The visit set against the backdrop of Asia’s largest tulip garden felt like a public celebration of the community’s marginalisation and disempowerment,” she said.
Omar has described it as a chance meeting and that Rijiju had requested a selfie. “Should I have refused him?” Omar asked.
He said it was PDP which brought BJP to J&K. Omar pointed out the PDP-BJP alliance in 2015 was responsible for reducing J&K to a Union Territory.