Mufti remark: Modi says can never back it

"If somebody makes such a statement, we can never support it," Modi said in Rajya Sabha.

Narendra Modi, mufti mohammad sayeed, Jammu and Kashmir

Narendra Modi and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in Jammu.

Stepping in to thwart the Opposition attack over its ally PDP’s patron and J&K’s new CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s controversial remark that credits Pakistan and separatists for smooth conduct of state polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can never support the statement.

“If somebody makes such a statement, we can never support it..If somebody makes a statement somewhere and we are forced to respond here, things will not work,” Modi said in Rajya Sabha, while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to Presidential address.

In order to emphasise his government’s stand on Kashmir and Pakistan, he said his government will move ahead with a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and assured that all resolutions passed in Parliament will be implemented in letter and spirit.

“There will be no compromise on that,” the Prime Minister added.

Modi further said that the credit for successful elections go to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “They have removed doubts in the international community by turning up in large numbers with overwhelming courage and pride to put their stamp of approval of what India had been saying all along,” he said.

Echoing what the BJP said on the party’s coalition government, the PM said: “I want to assure this House and 125 crore people of the country that the government formed in Jammu and Kashmir based on the Common Minimum Programme and the government will run on its basis.”

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The ruling party also faced flak in the Lok Sabha prompting Home Minister Rajnath Singh to say that the BJP-led NDA government did not endorse Mufti’s comments.

Responding to the Opposition’s charge, Singh said “there is no question of welcoming such remarks” and “there is no question of endorsing the Chief Minister’s statement.”

He, too, said that the credit for the smooth conduct of assembly polls goes to the Election Commission, the Army, paramilitary forces and the people of the state.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu too said that the Jammu and Kashmir CM’s controversial statement on assembly polls cannot be endorsed.With the united opposition disrupting the proceedings, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had to adjourn Lok Sabha proceedings twice for brief periods.

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Mufti had made the comment on Sunday, soon after being sworn in as the CM of the PDP-BJP government in J&K. Embarrassed over the controversy triggered by the coalition partner, the BJP had dissociated itself from the statement.

The Opposition in both houses, however, had been demanding a response from the Prime Minister.