Iltija Mufti blames ‘NC-BJP nexus’ for her X suspension

SRINAGAR: PDP’s Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, Tuesday blamed the governing NC for the suspension of her social media accounts, alleging that the party was acting in collusion with the BJP to target its critics.

“X has withheld my account. Usually, they send an email, but in my case, there has been no communication. Over the past 24 hours I have been trying to reach the help desk, but the interface is not working. I have not been informed about the reasons,” Iltija told the TOI.

“Yesterday, people started sending me screenshots saying they were unable to access my account as it had been withheld and that is how I came to know about it,” Iltija said.

She said the suspension of her X account had hampered her political activities as there were few platforms left in Kashmir where people could express themselves. “X and Facebook are among the few platforms available to politicians. My Facebook page was deactivated six days ago and now my X account has been suspended,” she said.

“I feel there is a correlation. When I started speaking about the National Conference (NC) and the process of eliminating Urdu from J&K, an FIR was filed. The day I began criticising CM Omar Abdullah over his insensitive statement on alcohol, my account disappeared within two days. I think there is some kind of collusion with the BJP. When you target the NC, BJP comes after you,” she alleged.

Last week, Iltija had posted a video of late separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on X, saying, “May not concur with Geelani Sahab’s ideology but this old video of him stressing on the importance of Urdu very well makes sense in addition to other reasons. Worth a watch.”

In the video, Geelani is heard saying that young people are being deprived of the Urdu language. He says Urdu carries the region’s religious literature and that a substantial body of religious writing “across India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir” has been preserved in it. Geelani died in September 2021.

Earlier, Iltija had taken to the streets to protest the government’s proposed move to remove Urdu as a mandatory language from the Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Service Recruitment Rules, calling it an attack on the Union Territory’s linguistic heritage.

NC has rejected accusations, alleging that the PDP voted in favour of the BJP candidate in Oct last year’s Rajya Sabha polls and in order to deflate the issue it is raising Urdu and other things.

CM Abdullah has maintained that there is no proposal with govt to remove Urdu.