National Conference President and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Dr Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said that the BJP government “wants to have a pliable motley group of self-anointed leaders in Jammu and Kashmir to white wash and legitimise their undemocratic actions in 2019 when the Article 370 was abrogated and the state split into two UTs”.
He said the National Conference will continue its battle for the restoration of the abridged democratic and political rights of the people of J&K.
He said this while leading party functionaries in paying rich tributes to Shaheed Sheikh Muhammad Mansoor Sahib on his 33rd martyrdom anniversary at a public gathering organized at Vehil, Shopian.
Abdullah reiterated that the party was fighting for the honour and dignity of the people through democratic, constitutional and peaceful means. He was quick to add that certain sections from New Delhi to Kashmir have joined their efforts to derail the peaceful struggle and are trying to create disunity among our rows.
“All they want is to have a pliable motley group of self-anointed leaders and social activists manufactured and incubated in the powerful corridors to white wash and legitimise their undemocratic actions in 2019,” he said.
“However, their bogus narratives to discredit and delegitimize NC and our leaders will never fructify. Their efforts will again gain momentum as various elections are approaching but as long as we don’t sell our conscience, nothing is going to harm us,” he said.
Abdullah reiterated that the policies pursued by the incumbent administration are extracting a heavy price on people, who are suffering from unemployment, underdevelopment and administrative problems all at the same time.
“Holding assembly elections would be the first and most important step towards the restoration of all the constitutional rights guaranteed in the constitution of India and the fulfilment of the political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. There is no trade-off between the political aspirations and development demands of people, both have to be addressed,” he added.
He contended that India was a union of states and that every constituent unit of the country has a distinct character and identity.
“People have made it a point to not allow anyone to discredit their voice. People will fight all such brazen attempts to denude them of their identity. NC bringing the genuine and true representative voice of people will encumber such deceitful conquest of BJP and its saplings to harm J&K’s unity, diversity and uniqueness,” he said.