The Congress will need to “sacrifice more” in order to save the idea of India, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Sunday, ANI reported.
The Peoples Democratic Party chief made the statement while speaking to reporters in Bengaluru.
Mufti said that the Congress has played a “great role” in securing independence and in building the country. She added that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India on October 26, 1947 had a lot to do with the efforts of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“For the survival of the idea of India, the Congress has the biggest responsibility as compared to the other parties,” Mufti said. “They will have to sacrifice more if they want to save this country and if they want to save the idea of India. There is no other way.”
The former chief minister added: “At this point of time, they [Congress] will have to focus on one opponent – that is the [Bharatiya Janata Party]. The rest, they have to be in it together. Only then can they defeat the fascist forces.”
Mufti praised voters in Karnataka for defeating the “fascist, communal and divisive” BJP in the Assembly election, PTI reported. She was among several Opposition leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Congress leader Siddaramaiah as the Karnataka chief minister on Saturday.
The Congress won the Assembly elections in the southern state on May 13 by securing 135 out of the 224 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party was reduced to 66 seats.
The Peoples Democratic Party chief on Sunday, however, said that recent developments in Delhi were a wake-up call for everyone, referring to the Centre’s ordinance that created the National Capital Civil Service Authority for administering the transfers and postings of bureaucrats serving the Delhi government.
The ordinance negates a May 11 Supreme Court verdict stating that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has legislative power over bureaucrats excluding the departments of public order, police and land.
“BJP doesn’t want to have any opposition,” Mufti said. “The Delhi government has been disempowered. This is going to happen to everyone.”
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