Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 5: National Conference (NC) is deliberately trying to change the narrative and mislead the people of the State by adding a new dimension of Constitution of separate regional and sub-regional councils in order to divert their attention from all-important issue of legality of Article 35A of the Constitution of India stated Brig (retd) Anil Gupta, State spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a press release issued here, today.
Having miserably failed in its propaganda to convince the people by creating a fear psychosis about the loss of identity and job opportunities in case of Article 35A being declared invalid by the Supreme Court, its leaders are now trying to confuse the people with the old idea of regional councils he said.
The idea of the regional and sub-regional councils is neither new nor the original idea of NC. While in power for so long the NC never gave any importance to this idea but all of a sudden has started championing its cause. It is basically aimed at diverting the emerging ground swell about repealing of Article 35A that is gaining momentum in different parts of the State said Brig Gupta.
He further added by stating that the regional councils were no substitute for repealing unjust, illegal, divisive, anti-women, discriminatory and inhuman 35A, these councils do not enjoy any residuary powers without which the justice cannot be done to the aggrieved residents of this State. The ensuing ULB and Panchayat elections have sent shivers down the spine of local NC leadership which had been playing a second fiddle to their Kashmiri bosses ignoring the people of LehLadakh and Jammu according to the spokesperson.
The party is once again trying to exploit the regional and sub-regional loyalties of the people by resorting to divisive politics based on region and religion blamed Brig Gupta. Questioning the NC leadership, Brig Gupta asked “will the Constitution of regional councils remove gender inequality and restore right of inheritance of the affected people? Will it grant the citizenship rights and associated privileges to the West Pakistan refugees? Will it remove the discrimination being faced by the Valmiki Samaj, Bazigars and the Gurkhas? Will it supress or encourage separatism?” People of the State are not as gullible as the NC leadership thinks them to be and they would never fall prey to their deliberate manipulations, asserted Brig Gupta.
“Was all this while the NC acting against the philosophy of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, who according to its leadership advocated empowerment at grass roots level, when it deliberately avoided the holding of elections to ULBs and Panchayats,” their leadership needs to explain to the people. Brig Gupta said.
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