Farooq Abdullah urges voters to defeat BJP and those released from jails

NATIONAL CONFERENCE president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir should unite to defeat the BJP and those who are "being released from jails" to take part in elections.

Addressing an election rally, he said the alliance with the Congress was not easy but was necessary to save J-K's identity, and raised the issue of "outsiders" being appointed in the administration.

"This is not the time to sleep. I know the (agricultural) crops are ready (for harvest) but you will have to put it off for one day and come out to vote. We have to defeat the flower (Lotus) and others who have been released from jail. For God's sake tell me, why have they been released?

"Till yesterday, they were behind bars. They (BJP) want to use the people in jail to oppress the Muslims. Unfortunately, they do not realise that there is a special place for them in hell," Abdullah said at the rally in support of Congress-NC alliance candidates in Anantnag town, 52 kilometres from here.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also addressed the rally.

Abdullah hit out at the BJP-led government at the Centre, alleging that the prime minister was playing divisive politics.

"I have never heard a prime minister making such a speech. He spreads hatred when he says the Mangalsutra of Hindu women will be taken away. Then he says Muslims produce more children.

"What is it that keeps India together? It is equality and brotherhood. As long as this flower (BJP symbol) is in India, the country will not be strengthened. The country will suffer due to the fissures created by them," he added.

On the alliance with Congress for assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the NC president said, "This alliance was not easy, it was difficult".

"However, to save this state and to protect its identity, it was necessary. Today the question is whether people of Jammu and Kashmir can live with honour and dignity," he said.

Abdullah said the current election was not about government formation or development only, but a matter of survival for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"There are a lot of proxies of the BJP here and they want us to remain slaves. Today, the question is not who will form the government or about development. The question is whether we will survive or not. Our youngsters are not getting jobs, all are coming from outside. All DCs and SPs are from outside.

"The Secretariat is also full of outsiders. What do they know about this place and our needs," he said.

Engineer Rashid out of Tihar jail

Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday, a day after a court here granted him interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case so that he can campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

Talking to reporters outside the jail, he said that he would continue to fight for his people. Rashid's sons and supporters welcomed him after he walked out of the prison.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been in jail since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

"He was released from jail at 4.15 pm," said a senior prison official.

He defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla. Rashid's outfit Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is contesting the assembly elections.

"I was in jail for five-and-a-half years. I am committed to fighting for my people. I am coming back to unite people and not divide them," he told reporters outside Tihar.

"I want to bring everlasting peace to Kashmir and prove that Kashmiris are not stone pelters. But we will not compromise with our political rights," he said, adding, "I will fight the prime minister's narrative of Naya Kashmir." (PTI)