KL Report
BARAMULLAH
Lashing out at PDP and its Parliamentarians from the Valley for maintaining a criminal silence over the brazen discrimination meted out to Kashmir by the Union Government while allotting an IIT to Jammu and depriving the youth of the Valley on this count, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who is also Working President, National Conference Saturday said that it was a matter of absolute shame for the leadership of PDP that its Parliamentarians had bartered the interests of the youth of the State for petty, short-term political benefits, a party statement said.
“Unlike the criminal attitude and negligence shown towards Kashmir by PDP and its Parliamentarians who thrive on rhetoric and hypocrisy, it were the Parliamentarians from National Conference who raised their voices both inside and outside the Parliament and got two Central Universities for the State, one each for Kashmir and Jammu”, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that the manner of conspicuous silence maintained by PDP and its MPs over this lopsided and discriminatory decision of the BJP Government proved PDP’s covert understanding with BJP to divide the State on regional lines by engineering a rift between Kashmir and Jammu. “One can safely assume that these tricks and tactics are being employed keeping an eye on the forthcoming Assembly Elections in the State. They want to perpetuate regional polarization in the State for mutual electoral interests as was done in Parliament Elections,” the NC Working President said.
“This is only the beginning and PDP MPs have already started revealing their hidden agenda and lack of spine through their complicity in such blatant discrimination. One can only dread what could be in store for the people of Kashmir who were misled by PDP through rhetoric, hypocrisy and hollow promises of raising their voice in the Parliament. Where is PDP’s voice now?” the Working President, National Conference asked.
The statement quoting Omar Abdullah said that National Conference treated all three regions of the State equally without any prejudices and out-rightly rejects this policy of applying different yardsticks to Kashmir Valley and Jammu. He said the interests of all three regions – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh were equally dear to National Conference and the party would continue to fight for equitable development and justice in all the regions and sub-regions of the State.
Addressing workers conventions at Rafiabad and Baramullah today, the Working President of National Conference said that PDP efforts to compare itself to National Conference were foolhardy and ridiculous attempts to distort history. “PDP’s leadership will have to be born a hundred times over and over again to understand the history of struggle, selfless service and sacrifices rendered by National Conference,” he said while asking PDP to introspect for its own good and recollect how its Patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had been a part of every constitutional machination and erosion against the State since 1953.
Omar Abdullah while addressing party workers termed the opposition by PDP to pro-people, welfare oriented decisions of his Government as manifestations of PDP’s growing frustration and intolerance. “They have nothing to show to the people for the tenure of their governance in the State and get extremely annoyed when their hollow rhetoric is countered with a list of unprecedented achievements of the Government. They, during their run at power, failed to do anything for the State and every single one of their promises crumbled”, he said stating that instead of delivering the much hyped about ‘healing touch’ to the people of this State during their tenure, they under the instructions of their Lords and founders in New Delhi extended a ‘heating touch’ to the people of the State by miring the State in corruption, misrule, suppression and political chaos.
“It was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who during one of his speeches exhorted the youth to stay away from the gun as he had come as their saviour. Ironically yet unsurprisingly as soon as PDP came to power they did a volte face and shamelessly opposed the rehabilitation proposal that was supported by National Conference for the youth who had crossed the Line of Control”, Omar said while stating that it was the National Conference government which implemented the Rehabilitation Policy for the youth who had crossed over the Line of Control without trying to score brownie points and draw political mileage from this initiative. “This was a prime example that reflects the vast gulf between what PDP says and what it does in reality”, Omar said.
The NC Working President said that people need to remain extremely cautious against the hidden agenda of PDP to divide the people of this State on regional, religious and linguistic lines in order to reap the electoral and political dividends of this approach. “PDP’s goal is to use political power to implement the longstanding anti-J&K agenda of its godfathers and patrons in Delhi”, Omar Abdullah said while asserting that National Conference with the support and compassion of the common people would never allow PDP to sell the interests and dignity of the State and its people for an insatiable thirst for power. “PDP can neither hoodwink the people through its false propaganda nor intimidate them through muscle and money-power”, Omar said while imploring National Conference workers to work hard at the grassroots level and prove their mettle in the coming Assembly Elections.
Omar Abdullah asked the party workers to open the Pandora’s Box of PDP and show people their real face and a history of deceits, betrayals and sell-outs. He said the leadership of PDP is mistaken into thinking that it could change its disguise and come before the people in new avatars to deceive them for the umpteenth time by perpetuating confusion on vital issues concerning the State and its people. Omar said that PDP’s ultimate aim is to fragment the regional political voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that has been represented by National Conference for decades on bedrock of sacrifices and resilience. “To weaken National Conference has been the cherished desire of anti-J&K elements and their agents within the State who have now come together in PDP for their common nefarious designs – to loot and plunder this State and to weaken its regional character and representation,” the Chief Minister said while asking people to read between the lines and foil all such attempts of the enemies of the State who have come forth in different disguises at different times in our political history.
The Chief Minister said that unprecedented work had been done by the State Government during last over five years in areas of health, education, power, infrastructure, public services, horticulture and tourism. Omar Abdullah said the National Conference Government has taken historic decisions in all fields of governance and development particularly concerning common people and youth. He referred to the opening of hundreds of new schools, colleges, universities, technical institutions, polytechnics, ITIs, etc to universalize education and make higher education accessible to all. “We opened new vistas of higher education for our youth by effecting highest ever expansion and consolidation in both higher education and school education sectors”, he said adding that new skill development and employment enhancement programmes have been initiated during this period to create thousands of job opportunities for the youth. “The result of these programmes is becoming visible with every passing day and the day will come when thousands of beneficiaries of these employment and skill-development programmes will be leading the State in different fields of development”, Omar said.
The Chief Minister mentioned the historic decision of his Government of Creation of New Administrative Units and said that this decentralization and empowerment exercise would transform governance by making it more accessible to the common masses. Omar Abdullah said the creation of New Administrative Units would help in addressing the day-to-day grievances of the common masses in a more effective and time-bound manner while at the same time creating a mechanism for better implementation and monitoring of development schemes at the local level.
The NC Working President said the decision of his government to hold Panchayat Elections despite opposition by PDP and various other political outfits was a historic stride towards liberalization of power and would go a long way in making governance more accountable and transparent. “An empowered Panchayat system in the State is now a reality as was the cherished dream of Baba-e-Quom Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who laid a strong edifice for empowerment of poor people and decentralization of power in the State”, the Chief Minister said.
