Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 16: Taking a dig at the Centre’s relief package for Jammu and Kashmir, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said ‘Khoda Pahar Nikla Chooha’.
After the last year September devastating floods, the then National Conference (NC) and Congress Coalition Government had submitted a relief package of Rs 44,000 crore to the Centre for rehabilitation of flood victims and rebuilding infrastructure.
He also took jibe at Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a team of bureaucrats including members of NITI Aayog will prepare long term developmental vision for J&K.
In a tweet after the Mr Jaitley and Union Home Minister Raj Nath Singh announced Rs 5000 crore package for the State, Mr Abdullah said ‘Khoda pahar nikla chooha!!!!!’. Why can’t you just tell us how much of the 44,000 Cr package is going to be approved instead of this sanction in drips & drabs,” he said in the tweet.
He also retweeted a tweet which reads,”a team of bureaucrats including members of Niti Ayog, Expenditure Secy will prepare long term developmental vision for J&K: Arun Jaitley. Mr Abdullah said,”What are CM & his team for? Does this mean you have no faith in his (Muftis) vision or has he totally failed to outline one?”
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement about significant improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was “meaningless” when the Centre refuses to even consider partial roll-back of the AFSPA, Omar said.
“This is when I remind you that all this is meaningless when you refuse to even consider partial roll-back of #AFSPA,” Omar wrote on twitter.Com.
Omar was reacting to Singh’s statement during a press conference in which he said the militancy-related incidents had declined by 25 per cent in the State.
Meanwhile, Omar described the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ of ruling PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir as a “bundle of lies”, accusing the Government of taking the State towards “instability and chaos”.
“National Conference (NC) worked hard to keep BJP away from power in Jammu and Kashmir and even extended unconditional support to People’s Democratic Party (PDP). But (Chief Minister) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was not ready to make his masters angry and entered into a coalition with BJP,” he said addressing a party convention in Kupwara district.
The NC working president said all the promises made by the PDP proved hallow within four months of its Government and with each passing day it becomes clear that there is nothing like a Common Minimum Programme between the two parties.
“The PDP-BJP agenda of the alliance has turned out to be an unimaginative bundle of lies. Today we have been vindicated as each promise made in the ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ has come crumbling down as Sayeed looks on as a silent, helpless spectator who has sold his voice to remain in the Chief Minister’s chair,” he said.
Omar also attacked Sayeed for his “deafening silence” on Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s “terrorists killing terrorists” comment and asked him to explain why a spate of targeted killings had started in Sopore after the Minister’s remarks.
“We are very concerned about the spate of targeted killings in Sopore and there is a widespread perception in the state that this PDP-BJP Government is actually implementing the Defence Minister’s remarks in letter and spirit.
“There are apprehensions that Ikhwanis (pro-Government gunmen) are being re-invented. Mufti’s deliberate silence and his refusal to condemn the minister’s statement is conspicuous and worrisome,” he said.
“Till now the Government has absolutely no answers to offer and the situation seems to be taking a turn towards instability and chaos,” Omar said.
Referring to media reports that the Centre has rejected the State’s demand for transferring of power projects, the former Chief Minister said another PDP-BJP ‘Common Minimum Programme'(CMP) promise has been exposed as a big fat lie.
PDP had made “spectacular, effortless u-turns” on all its CMP promises including revocation of AFSPA, the slogan of ‘Battle of Ideas’, resumption of talks with Hurriyat leaders, Article 370 and had also gone to the extent of undermining the sanctity of the State Flag of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“I wonder what happened to PDP’s ‘Battle of Ideas’ promise? What ‘Battle of Ideas’ is this Sayeed Sahab where you crack down on seminars about ‘saffronization’ and arrest not only the organizer but also their guests?
“Sayeed not only slapped a fresh Public Safety Act (PSA) on Masrat Alam but ensured that he is sent to Kot Bhalwal jail instead of keeping him in a jail within the Valley. Is this Sayeed’s ‘Battle of Ideas’?” he questioned.
“Mufti’s failure on the governance front is equally tragic. Till now the PDP-BJP Government of Mufti Sayeed has played one cruel joke after another with the flood victims while thousands of employees and thousands of contractors are without salaries and payments. The State treasuries are running dry despite the fact that Mufti Sahab himself had justified his alliance with the BJP on the pretext of getting liberal funding from New Delhi. Where is the funding Mufti Sahab? You and your Finance Minister say that you won’t beg for your people in New Delhi. But the tragic reality is that the common-man, especially the flood affected victims face the prospects of begging to survive because of your failure. The financial crisis in the State is purely a PDP-made situation that the present Chief Minister and his Finance Minister are solely responsible for. Despite PDP’s attempts to pass the buck and shrug its responsibility – the common man knows that if anyone is responsible for the dry treasuries and the economic stagnation in the State – it is Mufti Sahab and his Finance Minister”, Omar asked.
“Conflicting statements and contradictions on sensitive issues like AIIMS, IIT and IIM from the PDP-BJP coalition partners reek of mischief and clearly appear to be deliberate attempts to create regional animosity and hostility in the State. As Mufti’s PDP-BJP Government has failed to deliver on even one of its promises, it has now apparently decided to create a regional divide in the State to provide a distraction. The stand of National Conference on all these issues has remained the same and is based on the principles of equity and fairness. We have not wavered on a single stand on any of these issues and will continue to work for the development and prosperity of all the three regions of the State”, the NC working president said.
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