Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said the Valley witnessed its worst phase under the Mehbooba Mufti-led alliance government of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party as both parties communalised Hindus and Muslims, IANS reported.

“The situation in Kashmir became the worst under the previous government we had of the PDP and BJP,” said Abdullah. “One communalised the Hindus and the other communalised the Muslims.”

The National Conference chief said the state’s citizens did not have a history of being communal. “So, the rise of communalism can be the worst thing happening there,” he said, urging people not to lose hope. “There still is a ray of hope.”

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Abdullah accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government of lying to the country about its progress. “We are going through a very difficult period in our nation. Lies are being thrown... media has been bought,” he said. “The figures that are given about our prosperity and progress are wrong, cooked up.”

Abdullah urged people to unite and pray for the nation’s wellbeing. “We need to work out how to build a nation where everyone can live in peace and harmony,” he said.

The senior leader claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s house in 2015 had failed to carry forward the peace talks as the government did not think of it as a continuous process.

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“You have to continue the process of dialogue, so that the process does not stop,” Abdullah said. “Talking today and then talking after a year is not the way.”

Abdullah was one of the Opposition leaders present at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Unite India rally in Kolkata on January 19. He had urged opposition parties to approach the Election Commission and the President to bring back the usage of old ballot papers in elections. “The EVM is ‘chor’ machine,” Abdullah had claimed.