NC dragging holy Quran into politics: Mehbooba

Srinagar, May 6: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said the National Conference (NC) is “dragging the holy Quran into politics” while remaining silent on several key issues affecting people in Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Mehbooba said that the NC had lowered political discourse by invoking religious references in political rivalry.
“The National Conference has fallen to this level. They have even involved the holy Quran in politics. They don’t understand its greatness,” she said.
She said if the party truly understood religious values, it would have raised its voice on key matters such as the Waqf legislation and educational institutions.
“If they were aware, they would have spoken when the Waqf Bill was passed. They would have spoken when Siraj-ul-Uloom School was closed,” Mufti said.
The PDP chief further alleged that the NC has remained silent on surveillance of religious institutions and community structures. “They are silent when mosque committees, maulvis, and imams are being monitored,” she said, adding that there was also “systematic neglect of the Urdu language”.
Mufti raised concerns over alleged irregularities in government recruitment, claiming transparency was being bypassed. She said thousands of jobs are being outsourced to banks without any advertisement, and people are not even aware of them. “The recruitment processes were being conducted without public notification and proper procedure,” she alleged.
On governance issues, the former CM criticised demolition drives and administrative action against drug-related cases, saying such steps were creating fear among people. “Today, people’s houses are being demolished in the name of drug peddlers. Earlier, houses of militant sympathisers were demolished. Employees are being removed from government jobs,” she said.
She accused the ruling setup of diverting attention from governance failures. “They are watching a spectacle. To hide their failures, they should fight politically, blame us, but for God’s sake, do not involve the holy Quran in politics,” Mufti added. (KNO)