Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 11: Senior National Conference leader and Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi today lashed out at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks on liquor prohibition, accusing him of responding “arrogantly” and deviating from the promises made by the party during the election campaign.
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Ruhullah said the National Conference had promised people that liquor shops opened in Kashmir would be shut down and prohibition enforced.
“He was asked a question about that, but unfortunately, he replied arrogantly, and that answer had no logic. Instead of fulfilling the promises made to the people in this regard, he ended up rebuking them,” he told reporters.
The MP was reacting to Omar’s remarks on the demand for a liquor ban in J&K, in which the Chief Minister had said, “Who is forcing youth to consume alcohol?”
Mehdi said Governments often take measures against social evils even when enforcement cannot be absolute.
“We cannot pursue people for drugs, but despite that, we take measures against the drug menace. There are many things we cannot force people against, but still we work towards prohibiting such things,” he said.
He further alleged that the language used by Omar resembled the rhetoric employed by the BJP after the abrogation of Abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
“After 2019, we were called names – termed thieves, corrupt, anti-national, terrorists and addicts – and now this Chief Minister has started taking the same line,” he said, adding that Abdullah had been elected “to fight arrogance, not display it before the people.”
Ruhullah also said CM’s remarks were against the commitments made by the National Conference during the Assembly election campaign.
“The reply he gave yesterday was unethical, arrogant and illogical,” he said.
The MP also raised the issue of restoration of Article 370 protections, saying people had voted for the return of constitutional safeguards and not merely for restoration of statehood.
“If votes were only for statehood, people could have voted for the BJP and its allies, who had also promised statehood. But the National Conference had promised the return of constitutional protections,” he said.
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