Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday faced a group of angry women chanting pro-azaadi slogans at an official function organised by the State Rural Development Ministry. The agitated women complained that they were deceived by the organisers of the event and they did not know that the Chief Minister was scheduled to address them. The Opposition National Conference (NC) slammed the Government saying the reaction of the women participants was an indicator of unpopularity of the PDP-BJP coalition.
Hundreds of women working under J&K State Rural livelihoods Mission, an initiative to promote self-reliance among the womenfolk had gathered at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC). The women had arrived from nook and cranny of the Valley as the department had made elaborate arrangement of their transportation.
After a group of women shouted anti-Government and pro-freedom slogans and threw chairs and plastic bottles towards the dais, the Chief Minister left the venue after addressing the gathering. later on, the Chief Minister said that the chaos happened because a woman participant fainted at the venue.
“Women were present in large numbers and probably a woman fainted. She didn’t get water and others panicked. Hope this programme is organised again because it is an important event,” Mehbooba told reporters.
Soon after the pictures of the chaotic scenes were circulated, the Opposition parties began slamming the Government for organising State-sponsored events to showcase “false popularity”.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah tweetd, “This is what happens when the machinery of Government is used for the sole purpose of rebuilding @MehboobaMufti’s non-existing credibility,” he said.
A spokesman of the NC said the spontaneous protest and walk-out by employees at a Government function presided over by Mehbooba Mufti revealed the level and extent of anger against her and her Government. “The embarrassing incident should make the Chief Minister introspect and realise how unpopular she has become due to her anti-people, repressive and pliant politics,” he said.
The spokesman also ridiculed the statement of the Chief Minister that the spontaneous protests, walk-out and agitation had erupted because someone in the audience had allegedly fallen unconscious.
“This state of denial clearly proves that our Chief Minister is not only living in a make-belief world but has lost touch with reality to an extent where she has become unfit to dispense her critical and sensitive duties. These employees clearly stated on camera that they were coerced and misled to attend the function and would not tolerate Mehbooba Mufti addressing them. If the Chief Minister had any shame left, she would have acknowledged their anger and resentment against her and admitted about her complete and utter failure to head the Government”, he said.
Independent legislator Sheikh Rasheed also said the reaction of the women participants in the event was an eye-opened for the ruling party and the chief minister.