Podcast; Voices from the Lockdown: Sana Iltija dismisses claim that Article 370 hindered progress in Kashmir as 'propaganda'

In today’s episode of Voices from the lockdown, a podcast by Firstpost that aims to bring to the fore voices from Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh, we speak to Sana Iltija, the daughter of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who fought a legal battle to meet her mother after she was taken into preventive custody. Mehbooba has been in solitary confinement since 5 August when the Government of India struck down Jammu and Kashmir’s special status at a time when the state did not have a democratically elected government and was under Centre’s rule after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party unilaterally withdrew support from Mehbooba-led coalition government. Iltija responded to questions on various issues, ranging from the appointment of Girish Chandra Murmu as the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to the allegations that regional leaders were responsible for the current predicament of Kashmir. Iltija terms the Indian government’s efforts to castigate Jammu and Kashmir as an underdeveloped state a ‘propaganda’. She states that this narrative has been used to whip up public sentiment in favour of abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A. She, however, claims that the main reason behind dismantling the special status protecting rights and demography of the state was that it was the only Muslim majority state in India.