Narendra Modi is missing the moment to rise to AB Vajpayee's level: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Saturday reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his promise of following the policy of his party veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Kashmir.

"Claims were made that the present BJP government will follow former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee's line on Kashmir but there is no evidence of that either on political or on humanitarian level.

"Modi is missing the moment to rise to Vajpayee's level," Sayeed told a party convention here.

The PDP patriarch recalled that when he took over as Chief Minister in 2002, Vajpayee was first to invite him and he could feel the urge of the Prime Minister to connect people of Kashmir with rest of country by reaching out to them, and also to build bridges with Pakistan to resolve the issue amicably.

"The same sprit needs to be revived," Sayeed said.

The Prime Minister must seize the present moment in the aftermath of the recent floods to lead reconstruction of Kashmir from the front, he said.