KL Report
GANDARBAL
With almost year and a half still remaining for the state assembly elections, National Conference(NC) and Peoples Democratic Part (PDP) have geared up for the campaigning and hardly any day passes when the two largest party leaders are not seen in public meetings.
In one of such public meetings, at Chunt Waliwar in Ganderbal on Monday, PDP senior leader and former deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig said that Ganderbal has demonstrated that assertion of public power alone can make difference in their lives.
Baig said the positive exercise of vote by people of Gandarbal constituency in 2002 had determined the course of democracy in the state by establishing the principle of accountability for political parties. “It is this supremacy of the people’s will and mood which has turned heat on Omar Abdullah once again who is finding it difficult now to face the people who has reposed faith in him in 2008”, said Baig.
Former deputy Chief Minister said by withdrawing their mandate to the Sheikh family in 2002 the people of Ganderbal had influenced the course of history not just in Jammu & Kashmir but the entire region that was facing a serious threat of another war around that time. He said the marginalization of NC and the Sheikh family had led to historic developments in the sub continent and it is now proved that the ruling party is a major stumbling block in political and economic development of the state.
“NC’s strangle hold on power always results in instability which feeds its politics and personal luxury of its leaders” said Baig.
Recalling how the PDP led government had created an atmosphere conducive to big political and diplomatic initiatives Baig said internally the people of the state had been liberated from the fear of the gun of all kinds whether it was of the SOG, Task force, the Ikhwanis or the militants and externally India and Pakistan had found the right political space in Kashmir suitable not for war but peace. He said the exchange of delegations comprising journalists, traders, politicians and other opinon leaders across LOC had generated an unprecedented hope which was followed up with the historic decision of the reopening of traditional routes for trade and travel.
He alleged that this entire process was however reversed with the return of NC to power after Omar Abdullah’s victory from Ganderbal. He said Ganderbal itself witnessed tremendous progress under the PDP- Congress coalition.
Baig said, “The arrogance and contempt with which Omar Abdullah has treated the entire state can be witnessed with sharper focus in his own constituency. It is no wonder that the Chief Minister is facing a deep rooted wrath and public anger in Ganderbal as he has let down the people there badly.”
Baig said apart from the unfortunate incident leading to Haji Yousuf’s death in which money was allegedly collected from some people in Ganderbal there is hardly any new development in the constituency. He challenged the Chief Minister to show even a single project that has been started and completed in the five years of his government in his constituency.
“The people of Ganderbal are politically conscious enough to know that there is no comparison between the decades long rule of NC and the brief chance they gave to PDP on the scale of development. It was understandable that the chief minister was now shying away from Ganderbal and reportedly planning to try his luck from some other constituency,” Baig said.
