Addressing his first public gathering after arriving here on Thursday, Engineer Rashid said if the people give him 50 seats in the Assembly elections, he will resolve the Kashmir issue.
The Lok Sabha member addressed a gathering of around 3,500 to 4,000 people, mostly youths, in a ground in the Delina area of Baramulla district. He said that all the people at the gathering had come there on their own.
"I tell everyone that the vote in Parliament elections was not an emotional outburst, but a vote against oppression. The people of Kashmir are not happy by throwing stones, but they are reacting to the oppression. I told the BJP that they should start negotiations and peace talks to solve the Kashmir issue otherwise they will not exist anymore. I appeal to people to vote for AIP, Give me 50 more Engineer Rashids in the Assembly election and I will solve the issues."
he further said, "I ask my candidates not to fall prey to any greed. My jail cell was just 150 metres from the graves of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru and if my death had also happened there, the price for us would still have been too little. If we cannot talk to Pakistan as long as militancy exists here, then how can things be resolved by torturing the Hurriyat leaders? I have won the election by getting more votes in my constituency than PM Narendra Modi got in Varanasi. If PM Modi's ideas are acceptable to people then he would have got more votes than me", he asserted.
Talking about the criticism against him by the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said, "After Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Sayeed was the biggest traitor who brought BJP to J&K," he said.
Earlier in the day, Engineer Rashid reached J&K's Srinagar after remaining in Tihar Jail for five years. He was granted interim bail by the Patiala House court till October 2 so that he could participate in the poll campaign for his party, the Awami Itihad Party (AIP).
Talking to reporters here, Rashid said, "This is my land". When asked about the allegations levelled against him by Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti that he has been released by the BJP-led Central government to cut into the vote bank of the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said: "I am fighting the battle which Omar and Mehbooba can't fight."
"My fight is much bigger than these two. I want self-respect, peace with dignity and not the peace of the graveyard. I will fight for my people who punctured Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claims of 'Naya Kashmir' through their votes", he said.
Engineer Rashid fought Lok Sabha elections from Tihar Jail and he defeated former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes while Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC) finished third in that election.
(With inputs from IANS)
