Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 28: Exploiting people of the State and the country over the issue of Article 370 for 60 long years, the BJP after taking U-turn has now betrayed the people and committed murder of their sentiments by deleting it from its 2014- manifesto, just for the sake of grabbing power.
“People of the State and especially from Jammu region are feeling cheated once again as they (BJP) have exploited them for the last over sixty years on the issue of Article 370, and now, for the sake of power BJP has removed the issue even from its manifesto,” former Union Minister and top AICC leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today said while addressing election rallies in Gulabgarh, Mahore and Gool-Arnas areas of Reasi district today.
Mr Azad said, “The people are feeling duped by the exploitive machinations of BJP as in their desperation to attain the goal of power, they have sacrificed their `core ideology’ and are seen hobnobbing with the separatists.”
Cautioning the people against the divisive and polarizing agenda of BJP, Mr Azad said they have exploited the people of the country and the J&K State for the last sixty long years on the issue of Article 370 and now surprisingly, are asking them to forget this issue for the sake of gaining power. They have betrayed the people and murdered their sentiments for the vested political interests.
Azad said though exploitative, divisive and region-specific parties have again started a high-pitch election rhetoric to befool the people of the State, yet the fact is that the wise and sagacious people of J&K have decided to reject the diversionary, emotional and exploitative ratings of these parties to revive an era of development and prosperity in the State.
The former J&K Chief Minister, who was accompanied by AICC general secretary and former Union Minister Ambika Soni and party candidates Ajaz Ahmed Khan (Gool-Arnas), Ch Mumtaz (Gulabgarh) and Jugal Kishore-MLC (Reasi), further said that the people of J&K are yearning to witness a sustained and effective phase of development and progress and it is Congress-led Government which can fulfill this dream of the people.
“Entire State has seen my performance on the parameters of development, infrastructure-building, good governance and work culture, and we are seeking a decisive mandate from the people on the basis of that record”, Mr Azad maintained.
Referring to the devastation caused due to recent rains and floods the AICC leader said, “We are faced with a gigantic task of reviving the flood-ravaged economy, rebuilding public infrastructure on a fast-track basis and creating employment opportunities for the youth, and our political leaders have once again started their traditional discourse of emotional blackmail for the sake of gaining power.” The people have learnt a lot from the past experiences and this time, people of the State are determined to defeat the non-performing and exploitative forces.
Reacting to the allegations of BJP about alleged ‘Roshini scam’, Azad said BJP has become issueless and bankrupt as they have gauged the mood of the people in the first phase of elections and now are using diversionary and misleading methods to exploit the people. He said Roshini scheme was a marvelous pro-poor and people-friendly measure of his Government which has benefitted lakhs of poor people of the State, notwithstanding, the mischief and wrong doings by certain unscrupulous elements in the system.
Azad said basically, the move was aimed to regularise the occupation of those poor people who were holding possession of such lands since decades in order to safeguard them from the clutches of rapacious elements in the system.
“However, certain unscrupulous officials have tampered with the revenue records to change the titles of the land and upon coming to know about such distortions and abuse of the scheme I, from a public platform at Kathua in December 2013, demanded a probe into the wrong doings. Vigilance Organisation has already initiated a probe into the matter and if voted to power I will get the probe completed in the matter in the shortest possible time,” Mr Azad maintained.
Targeting BJP for spreading misinformation and canards, Mr Azad said that they must go through the CAG reports on Gujarat where all procedures were thrown to winds for distributing thousands of kanals of State land to Ambanis, Adanis, L&T ,ESSARs, etc. “Nobody, can raise a finger on me for showering benefits on industrialists or anybody else,” Azad asserted.
Claiming that the Congress-led Government of 2006-08 demonstrated to the people of the State how large-scale infrastructure building and sustained developmental activity could be undertaken across the State with equity and efficiency, Azad said that people of the State have decided to revive that era of all-round development.
Referring to the construction of Mughal road connecting Kashmir Valley with Pir Panjal, Azad said all the regional political parties tend to appropriate this project, however, it became reality during his tenure as Chief Minister, when the foundation stone was laid and actual execution was started. He said, in the limited span of two and half years, the road was made motorable, notwithstanding the fact that stay of Supreme Court also delayed the work for a substantial period of time.
“I knew many projects in J&K which were going on for decades and they were sold to the people perpetually, but we showed the way in execution of projects”, said Azad.
Urging the people to give decisive mandate to the Congress Party to realize the dream of making J&K a power-surplus State, Azad said that he as Chief Minister, besides taking steps for the early completion of all ongoing power projects, also decided to set up creative institutions like Chenab Valley Power Projects Corporation (CVPPC) and introduced innovative tools like international tariff-based bidding for enhancing the generation capacity expeditiously.
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