KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
National Conference on Thursday “congratulated” the Peoples’ Democratic Party for “officially admitting” that they “deceived the people of J&K with their deeds brazenly contradicting the promises” they had made in the ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ that was released by the party on forming an alliance with the BJP.
“Senior PDP Leader and Spokesperson Naeem Akhtar deserves to be congratulated for a belated discovery of the remnants of a moral conscience which has compelled him to finally admit that PDP had deceived the people of J&K by forging an alliance with the BJP and then going against every single political promise that was marketed in the ‘Agenda of the Alliance’. PDP’s admission of treachery and deception under the cloak of a ‘review’ is a welcome development,” NC Spokesperson said in a party statement.
Akhtar, in an interview to NDTV had said the PDP was “reviewing how much of the common vision of PM and Mufti Sahab regarding J&K had been taken forward”. “For an entire year Naeem Akhtar, besides other PDP leaders including Mehbooba Mufti kept singing psalms of glory about the PDP-BJP Alliance and how it was the best thing that had happened to the people of the State. Now suddenly, it seems Mufti Sahab’s tragic demise is being used as a political opportunity to peddle a pretence of regret and guilt, which is ridiculous and also contemptuous to the final legacy of Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed – who chose the PDP-BJP Alliance as his final political legacy,” the NC Spokesperson said.
The statement quoted Akhtar as having also said, “Mufti Sahab had stature that he could absorb this. The dilemma in the PDP is that in absence of such a towering leader can we actually just go and sit in the ministerial chairs and continue with the same thing?”
“One begs to ask Naeem Sahab how he and other colleagues of his continued to sit in their Ministerial Chairs with such satisfaction if not shamelessness when their alliance partner not only questioned the sanctity of the State Flag but also swore to abrogate Article 370 countless times in the previous 10 months? How did Naeem Sahab and his colleagues find the recluse of shamelessness within convenient reach when a poor trucker from Kashmir was burnt alive in Udhampur by a communal mob affiliated to the ideology of its alliance partner? How did Naeem Sahab and his colleagues continue to sit in their Ministerial Chairs when BJP leaders openly opposed the return of power projects, the revocation of AFSPA and the promised political engagement with Hurriyat leaders?” the NC Spokesperson asked.
The NC Spokesperson said Naeem Akhtar’s “indication that late Mufti Sahab failed to realize what PDP has suddenly realized now was contemptuous to their deceased Party Patron and Former Chief Minister who continued to support the PDP-BJP alliance till his last breath”.
“PDP has betrayed the people of J&K. As pointed out by its own Member of Parliament, they have facilitated the opening of Shiv Sena offices in Kashmir and reneged on promises they had made to seek votes from the people. This drama of a belated realization of betrayal would be hilarious had it not been so tragic. It seems Mufti Sahab’s tragic demise is being exploited in a desperate attempt to escape the consequences of a historic, unprecedented political sell out – which is condemnable given that this indictment of Mufti Sahab’s decisions and vision has come from his own party within a week of his demise,” the NC Spokesperson further said.
“Both PDP and BJP have pushed the State into an indefinite period of political chaos and uncertainty because of these antics. Central Rule is never a good omen for J&K and sets into motion apprehensions about the very survival of representative democracy in the turmoil-hit State. When PDP and BJP continue to be in an alliance and when their ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ stands as it was, why are they depriving the people of an elected Government? This chronic theatrical tendency of PDP to try and fool the people of J&K is a never-ending misery but that PDP chose to enact this drama in the immediate aftermath of the demise of their Patron is tragic and contemptuous to his political legacy,” the statement said.
