Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 28: Coming down heavily on Dr Farooq Abdullah, senior People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, Muzzafar Hussain Baig has said Dr Farooq should be the first to jump into the ocean for having supported BJP and giving that party legitimacy in 1996.
Baig said Dr Farooq has been completely panicked by the anger of the people against his party and Government and that is why he is indulging in rhetoric and rabble rousing on issues that are completely irrelevant to the problems of Kashmir.
Referring to the statement of Dr Farooq that ‘who vote for BJP should jump into the sea’, Baig said Dr Farooq should be the first to jump into the ocean for having supported BJP and giving that party legitimacy in 1996.
He said the thousands of unmarked graves and numerous widows and orphans are a result of the NC’s opportunistic politics. He said by aligning with BJP as representatives of the only Muslim majority state, the NC gave legitimacy to the policies of BJP. “Not only that, the party continued in the NDA till it was voted out of power and Omar Abdullah didn’t resign when the entire country felt outrage at the Gujarat massacre.”
Baig said the NC is unable to answer questions about the devastation they have caused to the state as a result of their mis- governance and repeated compromises and are now trying to create Modi scare as if Jammu & Kashmir has not faced the worst under the Abdullahs and survived
“Dr Farooq and Omar Abdullah should take first plunge into the ocean as they secured votes in 1996 on Autonomy and then sat in the lap of BJP just to get a junior Minister’s job for the younger Abdullah,” he said in a statement.
He said the NC provided legitimacy to BJP when most parties shunned it for its policies. “The NC expelled Saif-ud-Din Soz from the party for having voted against the first BJP Government,” he added.
Baig said people know that even after NC had received a record 60 members in the Assembly, it joined NDA only to get a junior Minister’s berth to Omar Abdullah and in the process sacrificed the autonomy resolution passed by the Assembly. It gave up seven most feasible power projects to NHPC, banned Shahtoos on the orders of Menika Gandhi, agreed to stop the construction of North -South corridor at Lakhanpur, banned opening and up gradation of new schools, banned recruitments in the Government sector, brought POTA to the State and extended AFSPA to Jammu province as well.
Now, the NC is in alliance with Congress again without a CMP, Baig said the only achievement it can boast of is securing Minister’s salary and perks for Dr Farooq Abdullah. Dr Farooq is now raking up the imaginary tie-up of the PDP only to add to the sense of insecurity of the people in Kashmir and hide the failures and anti-Kashmir policies of the NC.