Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, the former alliance partner of the BJP, on Thursday accused the saffron party of “forcibly mobilising” government employees to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bakshi Stadium rally in Srinagar.

Mufti said that Modi’s rally is contrary to previous visits by former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee when common people thronged to the venues with enthusiasm and returned with hope in their hearts.

“Government employees are being herded at five am in sub zero temperatures into vehicles at Budgam bus stand ferrying them to the PM’s rally. Disheartening to see employees being forcibly mobilised to paint a pretty picture that all is well post 2019 & that people here are celebrating their own collective disempowerment & humiliation. Stands contrary to earlier visits by previous PMs like Vajpayee ji & Dr Manmohan Singh ji at the peak of insurgency. Common people then thronged to the venues with great enthusiasm & returned with hope in their hearts. But this time Kashmiris know that everything spoken at Bakshi stadium will be to showcase the so called benefits of illegal abrogation of Article 370 akin to putting salt to their wounds,” she said.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister claimed that the visit is aimed at strengthening BJP’s core vote bank in rest of India for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“This visit is only meant to address & drum support amongst BJPs core constituency in the rest of India for the upcoming parliament elections,” she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had also made similars claims and said that state government employees were being threatened to attend the prime minister’s rally.

In a long post on ‘X’, Abdullah claimed that the employees who don’t show up for the PM’s rally have been threatened with disciplinary action by their department heads.

“The dictatorial J&K Govt has pulled out all stops to give the PM a crowd because the BJP can’t manage anything in J&K without the administration. Employees, men & women both, in their 1000s are being asked to assemble between 4:30 AM & 5:30 AM in the freezing temperatures to be bused to the venue. This participation isn’t optional, it’s compulsory. Employees who don’t show up are been threatened with disciplinary action by their Dept heads,” the NC leader said.

Meanwhile, speaking at the rally, Modi said that he has won the hearts of Kashmiris.

“Whenever I came here after 2014, I have always said that I am making all these efforts, to win your hearts and I am seeing that I have been able to win your hearts. I will keep trying hard. This is Modi’s guarantee…,” Modi said.