Why Did Mehbooba compare India with Bangladesh? Politics of viciousness!

There is a shout out for Mehbooba Mufti over her remarks drawing parallels between the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh and India. The BJP leaders have cried foul over such a statement of Mufti made in Jammu on Sunday.

Mehbooba’s comments were inappropriate, to say the least. As the BJP put it that these were against the country could be a typical political response of the party to the utterances that Kashmiri leaders like Mufti make to stir still waters. The BJP as a party of nationalists has every right to tell Kashmiri leaders that they would have to adhere to certain limits, as they cannot take liberties to impinge upon the national interest. It is their duty as a national party driven by patriotism and nationalism, which the BJP performed. The anti-India utterances cannot go unchallenged. The crucial point is, why did Mehbooba say all this?

It was not an off-the cuff remark. This was a deliberate act with clear motivation and purpose to cater to vote politics, which is characteristic of politicians when they are on slippery ground. Otherwise, it is self-evident that there is, nor there could be any comparison between the two situations. In Bangladesh, after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, there is a very well-calculated attack on Hindus. It has become a state policy to harass and attack Hindus, their places of worship and their homes. This is a government patronized assault to convey a message to Hindus that Bangladesh is not their country, and they could live in the country only on the terms of the Islamist forces that have come to occupy the territory and its psyche with vengeance. They are having complete support of Pakistan’s military establishment.
Bangladesh is persecuting Hindus because they represent a different faith and have distinct practices to worship. That is not to the liking of the Islamists, who don’t want other religions to occupy even an inch of space. That is typical of all the Islamist nations. Bangladesh is copying Pakistan in persecution of the minorities where Hindus and Christians have been subjected to murders, rapes and conversions. The people in Bangladesh, particularly its rulers of the time, have forgotten the atrocities that Pakistani army had committed on them, their women folk, intellectuals and all the sane elements in 1971 before India liberated them by sacrificing its own soldiers for their cause. Pakistan army was made to lose and surrender by the Indian army, to deliver freedom to the people of Bangladesh that replaced East Pakistan.
There have been certain incidents in India, but those should have been seen and commented upon in right perspective. There is a punishment for those challenging the unity and integrity of the nation. Muar Khalid fits into that category. There were times when such elements could get away with anything they would say or do. But now there is a government, which doesn’t permit anti-national sloganeering.
Mehbooba should have been aware of the distinction. She deliberately sought to blur the distinction. She went a step ahead, placed India and Bangladesh in the same category on their respective behavior towards minorities. This is misleading and most inappropriate. She must go in for self-introspection whether what she is saying is correct or not. The answer she would get is that it is incorrect. But she will not correct herself, because it is her politics and she is looking to reap political dividends out of such misleading expressions.
Mehbooba is in a survival mode. It is the tragedy of her brand of politics that she had to preside over the worst-ever electoral defeat of her party in 2024 Assembly elections where her tally was down to dismal three seats as against 28 in 2014, 21 in 2008 and 16 in 2002. There was a gradual progression since 2002 polls before the whole thing reversed in 2024. It happens in politics. The electoral map doesn’t always remain the same. But Mehbooba Mufti brought unto herself and the party that she has been leading for over two decades.
She was responsible and credited for getting Chief Minister’s chair for her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in the aftermath of 2002 polls when the party could win only 16 seats, much short of the required majority of 44. She was able to persuade Congress, which was having 21 seats and others, including Panthers Party, that a Kashmiri should head the government. The same very Mehbooba Mufti undid prospects of her father becoming Chief Minister in 2008 despite the party having scored five more seats than 2002 polls. She is looking at something more this time to expand her party’s base by challenging the Indian nationalism.