Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 11: National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah today called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein-in some elements within the BJP, who were engaged in “polarizing Gujarat elections” that could have “serious ramifications countrywide”, and said the Prime Minister doesn’t belong to one section but was the Prime Minister of all people of the country and “it should look like that”.
“The Prime Minister doesn’t belong to any section. He is your Prime Minister…my Prime Minister…everybody’s Prime Minister. And he should look like that,” Dr Abdullah said and called upon Narendra Modi to take a lead in ending politics of “exploitation of religious sentiments”, which is being used in ongoing Gujarat Assembly elections.
Addressing National Conference OBC Cell functionaries at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan this afternoon, Farooq Abdullah said they have aligned with the country represented by Father of the National Mahatma Gandhi. “We need that country in which the people are not divided on religious and communal lines”, he said and regretted that some forces were engaged in highlighting Mahatma Gandhi’s killers.
Advising Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to allow himself to get swayed by “petty politics”, Dr Abdullah said: “Modi is the Prime Minister of all, irrespective of religious or regional affiliations and this fact should neither be ignored nor undermined”.
He also had a word of advice for BJP and RSS. He called upon them to refrain from generating passions and exploiting public sentiments especially during elections saying the “growing trend of dividing nation on religious lines” is “detrimental to national interests” and this tendency should be eschewed at all costs.
Lamenting attempts of provoking people to fight over “Mandir and Masjid issues” for “political objectives”, the former Union Minister said: “India doesn’t belong to any specific religion but it is a beautiful vase of flowers of different colors. The people of all faiths have equal rights in secular India”.
Taking dig at “reactionary forces”, Farooq charged them with “taking pride” in decorating the killer of the Father of Nation and cautioned that the country of Mahatma Gandhi can’t afford to get fragmented into bits and pieces on the basis of religion to satiate political agendas of few political outfits.
Dr Abdullah described alleged “vitiating of ongoing Gujarat elections on religious basis as saddest development” in the Indian polity and hoped the Prime Minister would appreciate danger of “communal polarization”. He added that the country should also introspect the “sordid state of political affairs”.
The National Conference president asserted that his party had challenge role to keep the flag of secularism aloft in the prevailing vicious atmosphere and recalled sacrifices made by the party’s top leaders and front-ranking workers during horrendous days of 1947.
Referring to the issues raised by Co-Chairman OBC Cell Abdul Gani Teli, the NC president said that the party legislators would vociferously raise their genuine demands in the Legislature to seek their solution. On its part, he said the National Conference will give due representation to weaker sections of society in the upcoming Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies elections.
Dr Abdullah exhorted women and weaker sections of society to participate in the elections to grass roots democratic institutions in a big way, saying this was imperative for their politico-economic empowerment.
He hoped that the State Government would live up to its commitment of holding Panchayat elections in the State shortly. He again decried the Government decision of holding “indirect election” of Sarpanches saying the previous method of “direction election” to Sarpanches should continue.
Additional General Secretary of National Conference, Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Provincial President Devender Singh Rana and other senior leaders of the party were present on the occasion.
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