National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday called the BJP’s development claims in Jammu and Kashmir a “bundle of lies”, accusing the party of “betraying” people in the name of bringing change and providing employment.

Addressing a party convention at Malwan in south Kashmir’s Kulgam, he also accused the ruling party at the Centre for creating a “staple crisis” in the Union territory by reducing the rice allotment quota.

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“The BJP has consistently betrayed the people, making false promises about elections, unemployment reduction, development, improved electricity, and other issues,” Omar said.

“Except for lies, they have not delivered anything to the people. The condition of electricity was not as dire as it is today despite their claims of spending huge sums on development. Why don’t they allocate more funds to provide electricity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir?” he said.

Claiming that the people of the region are reeling under the “rice crisis” due to the Union government’s decision to reduce the allotment quota, he said, “People have no rice to eat and cannot afford to purchase it from the open market at exorbitant rates. The government’s actions with regards to curtailment of ration quota has created a staple crises in the region.

“We are a rice eating zone, but who is going to tell this to the government? They do not give a damn to it,” he said.

Referring to the recent suspension of the life sentence of an Army captain in the 2020 Amshipora Shopian encounter case, the National Conference (NC) leader said, “With this verdict, the central government gave an impression to people that their blood is cheap.”

The armed forces tribunal suspended the life sentence of Captain Bhoopendra Singh who was found guilty of killing three men in a “staged” encounter in south Kashmir’s Amshipora village in July 2020. The tribunal also granted him conditional bail and directed him to appear before its principal registrar on the first Monday of every month starting from January next year.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Omar said the Centre made deceptive promises to the country over abrogation of Article 370 that its revocation would end militancy in the region.

“Earlier, it was said that Article 370 pampered militancy in J&K and if it is abrogated, the region will be militancy-free and people will heave a sigh of relief. But with the passage of time, all these promises and assurances have proved deceptive. Instead of curbing militancy, there is a huge rise in militant activities in the region,” he added.