Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today criticized National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah for his remarks that Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack, should not have been hanged.
Singh, speaking at a rally in Ramban, Jammu, expressed disbelief at Omar’s statement, questioning, “What other treatment should Guru have received in Delhi? Should we have garlanded him for his actions?”
Singh emphasized that the death sentence for Guru was justified, adding, “Omar Abdullah says Afzal Guru should not have been hanged. I want to ask him, what else should we have done? Were we supposed to honor him for his deeds?”
During the rally, Singh also expressed confidence that the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would soon join India voluntarily.
“The residents of PoK were recently labeled as foreigners, but they are our own people. We consider them a part of India, deserving a dignified life. The time is near when they will willingly join us without any pressure,” the Defence Minister declared.
Shifting his focus to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, Singh condemned her previous warnings that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) would erupt in violence if Article 370 was revoked.
He countered her claims, stating, “Not a single bullet was fired, and no one protested. No lives were lost. Instead, J&K has experienced lasting peace since the abrogation of Article 370.”
Singh urged the people of Jammu to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), assuring that J&K would become a model state within the next decade.
He accused the NC of advocating for the revival of terrorism and separatism, vowing that the BJP would never allow J&K to return to its pre-2019 conditions. “Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Rs 38,000 crore has been invested in J&K. Today, the youth are holding laptops and cricket bats instead of stones and guns. No one dares to carry a pistol and open fire in Srinagar anymore. This is the transformation we’ve brought to J&K,” Singh asserted.
He further emphasized the BJP’s commitment to facilitating the return of Kashmiri Pandits, who were forced to flee the region in 1990 due to terrorism.
Singh also expressed optimism that J&K would soon see its first BJP-led government, and over the next ten years, it would be lifted to the status of a model state in India.