Srinagar
After addressing a meeting in Jammu in the morning, National Conference Working President Mr Omar Abdullah on Monday addressed a Party Workshop and Meeting held at Party Head Office, Nawa-e-Subha in Srinagar later in the afternoon to discuss the current onslaught on Article 35A and the State’s Special Status and asked Party Legislators and Functionaries to inform the people of these intrigues and the adverse repercussions of such a step for all the three regions of the State.
Addressing the convention at Nawa-e-Subha in Srinagar, the NC Working President lashed out at the PDP for surrendering the State’s political identity and rights to remain in power. “While in their ‘Agenda of the Alliance’, PDP promised the people that it had managed to get BJP to agree to a ‘status-quo’ on the State’s Special Status, the BJP has in reality left no stone unturned to rob the State of its Constitutionally Guaranteed Special Status. BJP has openly called for not only the repeal of Article 35A but also the abrogation of Article 370. Mehbooba Mufti’s one-day dashes to New Delhi and her lies about ‘assurances’ from the PM cannot absolve her of her complicity in this conspiracy. PDP is playing an active and critical part in this machination. They cannot continue to govern with the BJP and oppose its policies at the same time. This never-ending drama of the PDP cannot fool anyone anymore”, Mr. Omar Abdullah said.
The Working President questioned the professionalism and seriousness of the response of the PDP-BJP Government to this serious and sensitive issue and said the State’s counter affidavit has been condensed to just eleven pages, which speaks of the seriousness accorded to it. The affidavit, he said, for some odd reasons is reported to be without any substance or any depth and worryingly the State Government is putting up a weak case, perhaps intentionally so. He said the preliminary affidavit actually contained nearly 70 pages but the State Government didn’t allow this to be filed in the Apex Court and instead preferred a brief, token counter response – which was worrisome and raised a red-flag on the role being played by the PDP-BJP Government.
“On its part, instead of defending this Article, the Central Government through the Attorney General pitched for a larger debate on Article 35A”, Mr Omar Abdullah said while inaugurating and addressing a day-long convention of District and Block Presidents of Jammu Province besides senior functionaries of various wings at Nawa-e-Subha this afternoon.
“Why isn’t the Central Government formally defending Article 35A in the Supreme Court as per the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and as a custodian of the Constitution of India?”, he asked.
“All this is being done under an elaborate conspiracy to rob J&K of its Special Status and rights”, Mr Omar Abdullah said and urged the people to unite in fighting this conspiracy and foil the attempts being made to trample the constitutional guarantees available to the State.
“What happened to the ‘assurance’ the PM had allegedly given you Mehbooba Ji? Today the BJP has only increased the sharpness of its pitch against 35A and Article 370.
The Working President questioned the intention of the BJP and said whenever the situation turns against their anti-J&K strategies, they come up with sinister new agendas. He expressed surprise over singling out of Jammu and Kashmir in respect of the special provisions related to State Subject Laws notwithstanding the fact that several other states like Himachal Pradesh, North Eastern States, Lakshadweep etc were having almost similar laws regarding ownership of land and definition of domicile regulations, etc.