‘J&K part of India because of Sheikh Abdullah, NC’
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 8: National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that his party is setting up an election board to select candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir so that people are taken into confidence before finalising the names.
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“We have decided to set up an election board because the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are around the corner to decide the candidates but not without taking you into confidence. You have to decide who is going to serve you and address your issues,” he told the gathering while addressing a public meeting at Burn in Bhalwal Block on the outskirts of Jammu, here today.
Stating that NC has made constituency incharges across Kashmir, Farooq further said that the same will be done in Jammu by January 20 so that the people can contact and raise their issues with them.
Taking strong exception to BJP’s accusation of National Conference sympathising with Pakistan and having links with terrorists , Farooq Abdullah claimed that had Sheikh Mohd Abdullah and his party not sided with India in 1947, J&K would never have been part of the Indian Union.
He reminded that Maharaja Hari Singh himself had reached a standstill agreement with Pakistan and sought time to take a call as he was neither willing to go to Pakistan nor India and was interested in independent Jammu and Kashmir.
“Then Pakistan raided the region and if Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his NC had not been with him (Maharaja), J&K would have never been a part of India. Had we wished to go with Pakistan, we would have done it in 1947 and nobody would have stopped us,” the NC leader said and added “we were Indians, we are Indians and will die Indians”.
Farooq Abdullah also reminded about the sacrifices made by NC leaders and workers. “They are accusing the NC but never said anything about 1,500 workers , MLAs and leaders of the party getting killed by terrorists. When the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in Srinagar was attacked in October 2001, the terrorists were looking for me,” Farooq Abdullah said.
He also referred to the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to J&K and said it was neither India nor Pakistan but the Maharaja who introduced certain laws in 1927 to safeguard the land and jobs of his poor subjects from the natives of neighbouring Punjab.
Farooq Abdullah also questioned the appointment of outsiders in top positions in the police and universities in Jammu Kashmir and alleged that there was no one to listen to the grievances of the people.
“Are our people not competent enough to become a DG, IGP or SP? Are they meant to remain a Sepoy? Is there no academician or intellectual here in Jammu to be appointed as Vice-Chancellor? Are we people dull and incompetent?” he asked and alleged that the people have no access to the Civil Secretariat as the bureaucrats were not answerable to the public.
The former Chief Minister also alleged that stopping of Darbar Move practice has ruined the business of the traders who are sitting idle nowadays due to lack of business.
He also criticised the Jammu and Kashmir administration over supplying electricity to Rajasthan from the Rattle Power Project for 40 years and said the decision is not in the favour of the people who are facing an acute shortage of electricity. “They have promised the people to provide 24×7 electricity but where is the power? Our cities and villages are reeling under darkness but they are selling electricity to Rajasthan,” he said.
Dr Farooq said that the National Conference started the reconstruction of Jammu and Kashmir in 1996 at a time when there were no bridges, no Government structures, no accessible roads and no functioning institutions. “We not only improved the environment gradually but also built thousands of schools, colleges, bridges and roads and provided more than 150,000 Government jobs in a period of 6 years,” he said adding, “We introduced schemes like Rehber e Taleem, Rehber e Ziraat and on-the-spot DG Recruitment for people living in remote areas and brought the troubled state system back on track.”
He alleged that those who keep on repeating peace and development here today are trying to mislead people with mere words. “The amount of welfare work that the National Conference has done for the development of Jammu and Kashmir and for the people cannot be replicated,” he added.
The convention was organized by NC ‘s Additional General Secretary Ajay Kumar Sadhotra and was coordinated by District president Jammu Rural Raghbir Singh Manhas. Party’s Additional General Secretary Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Provincial Presidents Rattan Lal Gupta, Nasir Aslam Wani, party leaders Abdul Gani Malik, Babu Ram Pal, Surinder Choudhary, Sheikh Bashir, Ali Mohammad Dar, Altaf Ahmad Wani, YNC Provincial President Ajaz Jan, Bimla Luthra, AG Teli, Shamim Akhtar, Shamshaad Shan and Ankush Abrol were present on this occasion.
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