SRINAGAR: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said his party’s decision to align with India was rooted in the secular vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, while criticising what he described as the use of communal divisions for political power.
Addressing a party convention at Dak Bungalow in Baramulla, Abdullah said the party had never anticipated a situation in which Hindus and Muslims would be pitted against each other for political gains. He expressed confidence that the current situation would eventually change.
“We have said it again and again that we aligned with India — with Gandhi’s India, with Nehru’s India,” he said, adding that the country’s communal divisions had caused significant damage.
Abdullah urged party workers to remain committed to the National Conference irrespective of whether it was in government, stressing that loyalty to the organisation should not depend on political power.
He asked workers to fear only Allah and remain faithful to the party flag, which he said had been defended through sacrifices by its supporters.
“If you want to be with this Jamaat, then stay with it even when there is no government. Only then can we move forward and solve our problems,” he said.
The NC president also called for measures to address poverty, revive factories and improve electricity supplies, arguing that the region continued to face power shortages despite generating electricity locally.
“We are not saying make us something, give us big posts. We are saying remove our poverty, run our factories. Our electricity is generated here and we are deprived of electricity,” Abdullah said.
Recalling his tenure as Chief Minister, he said nine major power projects had been planned and that he had approached the Centre seeking permission to secure cheaper foreign funding.
Abdullah said the then Power Minister, Kumar Mangalam, had told him that the Centre would not guarantee the proposed external funding and suggested that two projects be developed jointly instead.
He said a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) arrangement was subsequently proposed, under which the projects would be constructed and operated to recover the investment before being transferred to the state.
“My signatures and that Minister’s signatures are on it,” Abdullah said, questioning why the projects had subsequently been taken away from the state.
“Did they honour it? The projects were taken back from us. How did we lose the rest?” he asked.
