KL Report
SRINAGAR
Accusing RSS of introducing poisonous rhetoric in Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed tuesday made it clear that with the support of the people PDP won’t allow the divisive elements to put into operation their dangerous agenda in the State.
“PDP sees the upcoming elections as an opportunity not only to reduce the trust deficit between Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country but to establish new bonding between the communities and regions within the State,” Mufti said while addressing a series of impressive election rallies in the twin districts of Pulwama and Shopian.
Mufti said the State Subject Laws are sacrosanct for the people as these safeguard interests of all the regions equally. He said PDP won’t allow dilution of these laws and cautioned that any effort to fiddle with the special status of J&K will have disastrous consequences. “People of Jammu and Kashmir need to rise above sectarian division and communal polarization to give a decisive and inclusive mandate to PDP to safeguard the special constitutional position of the State and ensure equitable development of all regions and sub-regions,” he said and added that Jammu and Kashmir is today facing an entirely new political scenario with BJP trying to increase its presence in the assembly through a divisive agenda that is based on communal polarization and sectarian differences.
The PDP Patron said the BJP won the three seats in parliament elections last time by promoting communal polarization and now it is planning to create sectarian division even within the Muslim community as has been given out by its ‘poll strategist’ through media reports. “Such a negative strategy is harmful for any society but for a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir this could be out-rightly disastrous,” cautioned Mufti.
Mufti said PDP remains unflinchingly firm on resisting this divisive agenda of BJP and its allies as it defeated the NC and Congress in their designs to disempower the people of the state. “The people of Jammu and Kashmir are politically conscious to understand the changed political equations of the state and the designs of various divisive elements,” he said. She said whereas NC-Congress parties have collapsed as political organizations the contest now is directly between PDP and BJP.
Mufti said the Lok Sabha elections have already laid the foundations for the momentous political transformation and people across the length and breadth of the State want to conclude this process by bringing about the much-needed change of the Government in the State during the upcoming assembly elections so that PDP can accomplish its unfinished agenda of resolving the state’s political problems and addressing its economic deprivation.
Expressing gratitude to the emancipated voters of Shopian and Pulwama, Mufti said the people of the area have extended unflinching support to the PDP and the party won’t let them down if it comes to power. “I assure you that Pulwama and Shopian would touch new heights in development for which the foundations have already been laid between 2002 and 2005 with the opening of Mughal Road, setting up of Islamic University at Awantipora and construction of network of roads and fruit mandis and upgradation of healthcare and educational institutions,” he said and added that his government had planned to setup a super-speciality hospital in the area, which would be pursued by the PDP government besides expansion of horticulture and industrial sector in the area.
Appealing the people to vote in large numbers for the PDP candidates in Shopian and Pulwama districts, Mufti said the party has tried to rope in experts and professionals from different fields so that they could contribute in the reconstruction and development of the state. He said Haseeb Drabu is an outstanding economist who has assisted the previous coalition government under him in its economic and development sectors and his contribution to the development of the state and his constituency would be significant.
Addressing the rallies, noted economist and PDP candidate for Rajpora constituency, Dr Haseeb Drabu said if elected to power PDP would devise a holistic and futuristic plan of action for the overall development of the twin districts of Pulwama and Shopian.
He said focus of the PDP government would be to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure in almost all the crucial sectors including road communication, education, health, drinking water supply, horticulture and tourism.
He said despite having a flourishing horticulture sector, there has been almost negligent focus on this crucial sector in the district and the State plan as the outdated revenue records continue to show the area predominantly growing maize and paddy. “Nobody seems to have ever bothered to get the revenue records updated so that the area could have benefited from various schemes aimed at promotion of horticulture sector,” he said and added that similarly despite being gifted with some of the most picturesque areas, the district has also not benefited much in the tourism sector due to political neglect. He said two other unexplored areas that offer tremendous potential for growth are the hydro power and watershed management sectors.
Dr Drabu said food processing units, dry fruit mandi and soil testing laboratory would be also set up in the twin districts.
PDP candidate for Shopian constituency Advocate Mohammad Yousuf and PDP youth wing President Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra also addressed the gatherings.
