Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 13: Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Brig Anil Gupta today said that Mahatama Gandhi’s name is being exploited by the NC leadership to remain politically relevant outside the Kashmir Valley while the truth is that NC never adhered to inclusivity and secularism—two ideals of Gandhi.
“The result of the recently held Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir proved beyond doubt that the voting was not done on regional basis but religious basis because of the successfully played communal card by National Conference. While to the contrary its leaders often proclaim to be following Gandhi’s vision, which is mere rhetoric and much far from truth,” retorted Brig Anil Gupta in a statement issued today.
Gupta accused the NC of rejecting inclusivity, citing examples such as Sheikh Abdullah’s refusal to allow Sikh refugees from Muzaffarabad to settle in the Kashmir Valley, granting citizenship to Uyghur and Balti Muslim refugees while denying it to Hindu refugees from West Pakistan, and opposing the insertion of the word “secular” in the J&K Constitution despite its inclusion in the Indian Constitution.
Highlighting the NC’s alleged disrespect for Gandhi, Gupta referenced the cancellation of Gandhi’s statue installation in the Srinagar High Court complex in 1988 under the NC-Congress Government. He pointed out that the individual who led the opposition to this installation was later awarded a Lok Sabha ticket by the NC. Gupta credited the BJP-led Government for ensuring the installation of Gandhi’s statues in Srinagar’s High Court and Secretariat post the abrogation of Article 370.
He further criticized NC’s exclusivity, citing the opposition to a housing cooperative society for IAS and IPS officers in 1985 on the grounds of upsetting the population balance, forcing its dissolution. Gupta also questioned NC’s refusal to implement the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse Act), 1988, in J&K, even when fundamentalism and secessionism were being propagated from mosques.
Gupta asserted that NC’s professed allegiance to Gandhi’s vision is insincere and driven by compulsion rather than genuine conviction.
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