Demanding an apology from Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for his claims that Narendra Modi had sent emissaries to meet him on the Kashmir issue, the BJP on Saturday described his claim as “baseless” and “full of prejudices” against the party.
Rejecting Geelani’s claims as “unfounded and mischievous”, BJP’s chief media-coordinator Ravi Shankar Prasad said no representative of the Gujarat Chief Minister had ever met the separatist leader.
“We would like to demand from Geelani that he must apologise for making this false and unfounded statement,” Prasad told reporters here.
Geelani on Friday claimed that two emissaries of Modi had approached him on March 22 for a meeting with him while he was in Delhi for treatment. The separatist leader said he rejected the offer citing Modi’s RSS background. However, he refused to identify the men supposed to be from Kashmiri Pandit community.
Geelani’s spokesman Ayaz Akbar refused to identify the emissaries. “Geelani sahib told them that he will disclose the Modi’s offer to media. They insisted on concealing their identity, which we promised. So we can’t tell the names”, he said.
Geelani’s statement created flutter when he claimed that the emissaries contacted his rival separatists who “are waiting for Modi to become the Prime Minister”. This was an oblique reference to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has engaged with Government of India during NDA and UPA regimes.
Mirwaiz on Saturday came down heavily on Geelani and accused him of prompting a civil war in Kashmir by issuing misleading statements.
“I ask Geelani not to give misleading statements and don’t create situation where our sacred movement will head towards a civil war,” an upset Mirwaiz flanked by his senior colleagues said at a Press conference. Many separatist leaders and workers have died in infighting during the past 22 years in the conflict-ridden Valley.
Tempers flared at the Press event at the mention of Geelani. Mirwaiz blasted out saying, “Who the hell is Geelani. Today at this point of time when people have offered sacrifices, Geelani has once again come in open to give statements to prove himself right and others wrong. He is following his holier than thou approach since 1990 and has been issuing statements against others.” On the allegation whether he had any truck with BJP, Mirwaiz clarified, “We never met any BJP representative. Whenever we talked we talked openly with Pakistan or India and their civil society. We talked about K-issue as per our commitment to people.”
Geelani was cornered in Delhi too where the BJP blamed the separatist leader for indulging in such mischievous conduct. “The BJP would like to emphasise that the said claim is totally baseless, unfounded, mischievous, malicious and full of prejudices against the BJP. We would like to highlight very clearly and categorically and with full sense of responsibility that no representative of Modi has ever met Geelani,” Prasad said.
Prasad said, “The BJP firmly believes Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and is committed to development of J&K where good governance is the biggest casualty.” He added, “People of the State need a corruption free administration. Young people need jobs, need development, good governance.” Instead, he targeted separatist leaders for clouding the aspiration of youth.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also added his bit to the controversy by tweeting, “So who is lying SAS Geelani or the NaMo campaignIJ Easy way to find out — let SASG identify the emissaries who met him on behalf of NaMo (sic).”