Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 10: The Bihar Assembly election results was a “wakeup call” for the Centre, former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today, while expressing doubts whether the BJP-led NDA Government would change its functioning after the drubbing it got.
“This (Bihar election results) is not just a reply to divisive or communal forces, but a wake up call for the Central Government as well as their policies,” he told reporters at Anantnag.
The leader, who was at Anantnag in south Kashmir, for the National Conference (NC)’s workers convention, noted that the people want “real change” and are not impressed by the Prime Minister’s functioning.
“The way the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) himself ran the campaign of the BJP and addressed more than 30 public rallies, the way BJP president (Amit Shah) stay put in Bihar, the money that they spent, the number of Central ministers who campaigned in Bihar… Their programmes and their way of functioning is not liked by the people and people want a change in the real sense,” he said.
Omar, however expressed his doubts about the NDA Government changing its functioning for the better in the aftermath of Bihar election results.
He said that Muslims of the State feel insecure and threatened because of the PDP-BJP alliance and the platform given by BJP to RSS in the State.
Earlier, addressing a public meeting at Dayalgam, he said that Kashmiri Muslims have no permission to take out a procession but RSS is allowed to do march with guns and swords. “Youth of Kashmir are robbed of their right to even criticize the BJP and RSS and are arrested. And the RSS is allowed to march with guns and swords on the streets of Jammu”, he added.
He said that Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, on one hand talking of battle of ideas and on the other hand 3000 separatists and youth were arrested for Prime Minister, Narinder Modi’s rally.
“The same Mufti Sayeed who spoke about ‘Goli Se Nahi, Boli Se’ has become the tormentor of not only the separatist leaders but also the youth of the State in general. The Chief Minister arrested 3000 youth and political activists for a single public meeting of the Prime Minister. Kashmir had never witnessed such a clampdown during the visit of Prime Ministers in the past”, said Omar.
The former Chief Minister said that on one hand Mufti says no to bullets but a youth was killed after PM’s rally in Srinagar. He said that CM even does not know the name of the driver who was killed in Udhampur.
“What happened to the promise of revoking AFSPA? What happened to the promise of sending the Army back to the barracks? What happened to the promise of making New Delhi to enter into a dialogue with the Hurriyat leadership? What happened to the promise of making New Delhi talk to Pakistan? What happened to the promise of opening additional LoC routes? All these promises with the youth of Kashmir stand broken by PDP within the first nine months of its formal alliance with the BJP”, he said.
Omar said the Prime Minister snubbed Chief Minister of the State by telling Mufti that he did not require anyone’s advice on the Kashmir issue. “This happened in front of the entire world. And this same Chief Minister had tried to tell us that he would be the architect of the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue”, he said, adding “its clearly evident now that our Chief Minister has absolutely no say even in addressing the internal dimensions of the political issue”.
NC leader said that Mufti has disappointed the people of Kashmir. “Nine months having passed, the Mufti-led Government has been a complete disappointment for thousands of flood victims who are now going to face another harsh winter in makeshift shelters with no Government compensation and relief. Even in the Rs 80,000 crore Central Package, there is barely anything at all for the flood victims in terms of compensation and relief that would enable them to rebuild their homes and re-establish their sources of livelihood. We had sought Rs 44, 000 Crore and Mufti was not able to get even Rs 5000 Crore as flood relief”, he added.
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