National Conference (NC) President Dr. Farooq Abdullah said here on Tuesday that the BJP wants to replicate the China- and Russia-type rule in India and the INDIA bloc has been formed to thwart their attempts and also safeguard the Constitution even at the cost of our lives.

Abdullah was speaking to mediapersons while accompanying the working president of Congress Raman Bhalla who filed his nomination from the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency going to polls in the second phase on 26 April. Several other NC leaders also accompanied the Congress candidate. Among them were AICC’s J&K in-charge Bharat Sinh Solanki, PCC chief Vikar Rasool, and former PCC chief GA Mir.

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Replying to questions, he said there are apprehensions that the Constitution given by Ambedkar would be finished by the BJP and that the Chinese and Russian patterns of governance by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be replicated in India. The BJP also wants to rule the country for life without the opposition.

The INDIA bloc won’t allow this to happen and we will not allow the Constitution to get buried, the NC chief asserted.

Replying to a question on PM Narendra Modi attacked the Congress for callously giving away the strategic Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, Abdullah said it is better to leave Sri Lanka and let the PM first talk about Ladakh where China recently grabbed thousands of kilometres of our land. China is gradually occupying more land.

“Why aren’t they discussing China’s encroachment on our land? I have tried to raise the issue in the Parliament, but there has been no response from the BJP government”, he said.

There have been around 19 rounds of talks between India and China on the incursions in Ladakh but what is the outcome of these talks China is continuously moving forward and has renamed 30 places in Arunachal which they have claimed to be their part. Why the BJP is not raising its voice against the Chinese move, Abdullah asked.

Responding to a question about the disappointment of the PDP following the NC unilaterally announcing its candidate for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Abdullah asked, “Who has told you that they are disappointed? We are standing united and nobody can break the INDIA alliance, he added.