SRINAGAR: A Moderate Hurriyat chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Tuesday accused the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of "total surrender" before the right-wing forces, days after the march by armed RSS activists sparked communal fears in Jammu region. "By openly brandishing guns and swords in a march, the RSS wants to convey to the people that they are the actual rulers of Jammu and Kashmir and the PDP-BJP coalition is just an alibi," Mirwaiz, who continues to be remain under house-arrest at his Nigeen residence for seventh day, told The Citizen over phone.
Hitting out at Sayeed, Mirwaiz said the RSS rallies in Jammu have created a sense of fear among the Muslims, who are in a minority there. "The rightwing groups want to create fear and strengthen their vote-bank among the majority community. The Muslims and Sikhs in Jammu and Chenab region are feeling vulnerable but the state government is sleeping over the matter," he said.
Mirwaiz's remarks come days after the RSS staged marches in towns of Jammu region which were attended by the J&K Legislative Assembly Speaker, Kavinder Gupta, BJP MLA (Jammu East), Rajesh Gupta, MLA from Nowshehra Assembly constituency, Ravinder Raina and senior party leader and husband of Minister of State, Priya Sethi, Yudvir Seth.
Speaker Gupta had recently said in the state legislature that he was proud to be an RSS man.
Sparking a political row, the opposition National Conference hit out at the chief minister for allowing the march while meting out different treatment to Shia mourners in the Valley.
"While Mufti Sayeed gave permission to RSS to hold a heavily armed procession through the heart of Jammu city, he as the Home Minister of the State ordered batons to be unleashed on mourners in Muharram. Similarly protesters in South Kashmir who were anguished at the death of Zahid, attacked in Udhampur, were cracked down upon without any mercy. The hypocrisy of PDP is now an open secret and is further adding to the sense of alienation and isolation in the Valley which is extremely unfortunate”, NC general secretary and former J&K minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar, said.
Although the photographs of the armed, khaki-shorts-and-white-shirts clad RSS activists marching in Bhaderwah and Jammu were circulated vigorously on social networking sites, the state government machinery as well as the J&K Police has denied that the marches ever took place.
Veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Geelani Sunday said the inaction of the state government to contain such incidents by the far-right Hindu groups, who have become emboldened under the PDP-BJP coalition government, will cause a "repeat of 1947" wherein an estimated 2 lakh Muslims were slaughtered in communal riots across the Jammu region.
“Jammu region is preparing to repeat the history of 1947. The state administration is not only silently watching this but they are providing every possible help to the fanatic people of the region. We are closely monitoring the situations prevailing in the state. We will stand by our minority brethren in every kind of situations and they will not be left on the mercy of the communal and fascist forces,” Geelani said.