PM Modi’s ‘naya Kashmir’ idea a farce: Engineer Rashid

As Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid walked out of jail on Wednesday, a day after a Delhi court granted him interim bail ahead of this month’s Assembly poll in J&K, he said he would fight PM Narendra Modi’s narrative of “naya Kashmir”, which had “miserably failed”.

Stating that he felt stronger and would not let people down, Rashid said people of J&K had rejected “what the Centre did on August 5, 2019 (abrogation of Article 370)”.

• Editorial: Engineer Rashid’s bail

“The vote for me was a referendum against Modi’s policy, especially abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A,” he told reporters outside Tihar Jail, adding that he was “committed to working for the people’s welfare and for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue”. Asked if his party would support the BJP, Rashid said, “I will fight PM Modi ji’s policy till my last breath because he has already let the people of J&K down.”

On the increase in the voter turnout in J&K in the LS poll, he said, “It was because of resentment against Modi’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and 35 A. It was not due to love for Modi ji.”

The Valley’s two main parties — the NC and the PDP — have described Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party as a BJP proxy and have questioned the timing of the interim bail. NC leader Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that Rashid was granted bail to “fetch votes” for the saffron party.

He said several inmates from Kashmir were lodged in Tihar Jail and needed immediate medical care. “People from across the border (PoK) should be asked what they want; how to resolve the Kashmir issue. If saying this is a crime, I am ready to do it again and again,” said Rashid.

“Kashmir belongs to us and we are ready to make sacrifices for our land,” he said. “My message to the youth is to focus on education and career. It is my job to represent their sentiments and aspirations,”

he added.

Meanwhile, the senior BJP leader and party’s Jammu and Kashmir election in-charge, Ram Madhav, slammed Rashid’s remarks, saying that he was out to vitiate the Valley politics.