Will Mehbooba say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’? asks AAP leader

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra on Friday sought to know from the BJP if PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti will chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ before taking oath as the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister?

Both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Delhi government distanced themselves from the minister’s statement.

Calling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance as anti-national, Mishra, in a letter addressed to BJP national president Amit Shah, said that the nation might have to pay a huge price for the decision of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and BJP.

He also advised Shah to take the people into confidence before going ahead with such an alliance.

"Does Mehbooba Mufti believe in saying ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai?’ If not, will BJP still form government with her party? Before taking oath as CM, would she (Mufti) raise slogans which say Afzal Guru was a terrorist and ‘Afzal Guru Murdabad’?" asked Mishra.

Mishra said that by allowing Pakistan’s investigation team to probe the Pathankot attacks, the central government has jeopardised the long battle against state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan and asked if pressure from Mufti was the reason behind this.

The AAP and the Delhi government, however, distanced themselves from the minister’s statement. "It is the minister’s personal opinion and not the party’s stand," AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai told IANS.

A Delhi government official told IANS, "The letter written by Kapil Mishra is his personal opinion."