‘Elect people who can help masses’
*BJP misleading nation: Omar
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 6: National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah said today that the real development in Jammu and Kashmir would come when there will be people’s Government.
“For 28 years, they (a reference towards the BJP Government at Centre) are saying that Kashmiri Pandits will be taken back to their homes in the Valley. They are in power for more than five years but they are still waiting for the day of their return,” Dr Abdullah said addressing his party workers at Jam packed Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan here.
He accused the BJP of spreading hatred among the communities and asked “how long you will use them as vote bank”.
“You have always used them,” Abdullah, who arrived in Jammu for the first time since abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile State into two Union Territories, said.
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“People are the real fountain of power. When there will be elections, bring forth the people who can help the masses and are not self-centric,” he said, adding “the real development will come to J&K when there will be people’s Government and all rights of the people restored.”
Farooq said he will not die until the constitutionally given rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are restored, in an apparent reference to the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile State into two Union Territories last year.
Abdullah along with former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reached Jammu this afternoon and addressed the party workers at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan ahead of the scheduled meeting of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) tomorrow.
Mainstream political parties including NC and PDP formed the PAGD last month for restoration of the special status of the erstwhile State as it existed before August 5 last year and also to initiate a dialogue between all stakeholders on the issue.
This is the first visit of father-son duo to Jammu region in more than one-and-a-half years as both of them underwent detention under Public Safety Act.
The 85-year-old Abdullah, who minced no words to attack BJP for “misleading the country” and making “false promises” to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, said “I will not die until the rights of my people are given back…I am here to do something for the people and the day I will finish my work, I will leave this world.”
“We will fight for our rights and identity and will not be cowed down,” he said and asked “what was our fault”?
“You have made your party’s agenda, the agenda of the country. Nation is bigger than the party and don’t think that India is yours alone, ” he said adding many Governments have come and gone and you have to go one day as well.
Pointing to the elections in the USA, he said US President Donald Trump was also making noises and is now moving to courts. “He (Trump) is going out and so will be you one day”.
He said his party had never differentiated between the regions and always considered Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir a single entity.
“We have never thought that Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir are separate with each other. We could not be able to take the people of these regions on board at the time of the formation of the PAGD due to the urgency of the situation and now we are here,” Abdullah said.
He said the parties have joined hands to pitch for the restoration of Article 370, Article 35A and throw back the “black laws” which were implemented in J&K outside Lakhanpur – the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir bordering Punjab.
Referring to the allegation of being ‘Pakistani’ and “Chinese” supporter, Abdullah said had J&K chosen Pakistan, it would have gone into that side in 1947 and nobody was there to stop the people of J&K and today “BJP would have been outside Lakhanpur”.
It was National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who told the people that “this is our way and not that side”.
“We joined Mahatma Gandhi’s India and not the BJP. The India where all religions are equal and every citizen whether rich or poor gets equal treatment and the only red line is that we have to respect each other, irrespective of our religion and choice of food and drink,” he said.
The former Chief Minister said he had never thought of any other country as his nation.
“When I was not here, people started searching me where is Farooq Abdullah who can save J&K,” he said referring to his stay in London in 1996 when he returned to fight the elections in J&K at the peak of militancy.
“People used to say that the National Conference is finished but the people know that it is the National Conference which can only save J&K at that time. Nobody was looking for BJP,” he said amid thundering applause and slogan shouting by party workers.
He said the BJP is setting ablaze his effigies today but they forgot that it was he who represented India in Geneva along with their stalwart A B Vajpayee and silenced the opponents.
“I am not afraid of BJP. I am not armed with lathi or stone, let them come to me and reply to my questions which they will not,” he said adding his party never thought on the basis of religion and region.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP, he said “those who claim to be the champions of Hindu cause and challenging us, let them do a favour to this country by going to the borders and show their power to the enemy rather than the citizens of the country. We have done it when NC stood against the tribal raid and saved Srinagar from being captured in 1947.”
He said Abdullah is not afraid of anyone. “We have faced you in the past and ready to face you again and Insha Allah (god willing) we will emerge as victorious.”
Referring to the new land laws, Abdullah accused BJP of making false promises to the people of J&K. “Where had gone your promises of protection to the land and jobs after the abrogation of special status. Today, the unemployed are on the roads and so the daily wagers who are waiting for their services to be regularized.”
Asserting that National Conference is not “anti-national”, he said those who are leveling wild allegations should check the number of their eye-glasses.
“We are not the ones whom you could buy or make them to tear apart their clothes,” he said referring to a BJP leader who tore his shirt to claim that he is nationalist by core.
“How many more you will buy (in J&K). I know there are some elements in NC as well. I have seen a lot (in politics) and the day is not far when another group will come and they will buy you as well,” he said.
He asked the party workers to remain steadfast and united to thwart the conspiracies.
“We have to remain cautious as they are trying to divide us on basis of religion and region…this nation is strong as people from different background, regions, climate and linguistic are one. A Madrassi, a Bengali, a Maratha who are not habitual to below 30 degree Celsius is guarding Ladakh sector in minus 30 degree Celsius,” he said adding “we are together and one because of our nation.”
He said BJP cannot be his master and “I am not afraid of them.”
Asking his party workers to be patient in the face of abuse by opponents, he said they can burn his effigy and abuse him because it is the weapon of the weak and the strong replies with patience and a smile.
“As long as your party is strong, nobody can force you down,” he said, asking people not to worry though there will be attempts to create “confusion and divide” them.
“Those who are accusing us of being Pakistanis are in reality the ones who are supporting Pakistan. If something wrong happen, they would be the first to chant Pakistani slogans,” he said.
Abdullah also appealed people of Jammu not to burst firecrackers on Diwali festival to avoid air pollution.
Asserting that the fight for the restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A would be taken to logical conclusion, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah accused BJP of misleading the country over the constitutional safeguards to Jammu and Kashmir.
He also questioned the promised new phase of development in the erstwhile state after the abrogation of the special status and said “every citizen of Jammu and Kashmir is unhappy with the August 5, last year decision”
The former Chief Minister also claimed that the decision had pushed the ‘people with separatist leaning’ further away from the mainstream and also triggered a spike in the youth joining militancy.
“We are here to talk on your behalf and nobody will ask you to come on the roads. You have conveyed your resentment and we will be your voice as our fight (for restoration of pre-August 5, 2019 position) is not for a particular party, region, religion or family.
“This fight is for our future and identity…this is the fight of all of us and we know some will come in open and some will remain on our back but we will not backtrack and will emerge successful in this fight,” Omar said amid thunderous applause by his workers.
The NC leader, who was irked by repeated sloganeering, asked the workers to hear him calmly, saying if the identity and future of the people cannot be saved, nothing can be left behind.
Attacking BJP for snatching the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar asked “where is the promised new phase of development and what happened to the notion that the separatism will finish and all the diseases will be cured.”
“The people with anti-India ideology had not come close but had gone far away, while the youth whom we tried to bring back from the path of terrorism are joining militancy in large numbers. In 2011-14 (during NC-Congress rule headed by Omar) the terrorism-related incidents were at lowest ebb and so the youth joining militancy.
“But today, the number of youth joining militancy is much more. The number of youth who joined militancy in 2012-14 are now joining terrorism on monthly basis,” he claimed and said “it is because of our deeds”.
Accusing the BJP of misleading the people of the country over Article 370 before its abrogation, he said it was claimed that there is no development, employment and people are facing starvation while the separatists are outnumbering the nationalists.
“Unfortunately, we are in times of a fight between falsehood and truth…the people of J&K were promised of new phase of development and new land laws were introduced on the pretext of setting up industries,” he said and challenged Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to prove that Article 370 was any hurdle.
“If you (Sinha) have time, go to Kathua (in Jammu region) and stop at Bari Brahmana. If you do not find any factory change my name. Then visit Samba and check phase one to three. The setting up of industries did not need removal of Article 370,” he said.
Omar asked Lt Governor to textile plant at Kathua and see how many locals are working there and ask the company owner when he set up this factory there.
“If there is less factories in Kashmir, it was not because of Article 370 but because of the fear and terrorism. The factories couldn’t come up in Kishtwar, Rajouri, Doda and Poonch due to geographical obstacles,” he said.
He asked what happened to the proposed investment summit. The projects, which are being inaugurated, were either sanctioned by NC-Congress government or the subsequent PDP government.
Defending his fight for restoration of special status along with statehood, he said August 5, 2019 decision was the most harmful for the people of J&K.
“Our land and jobs are not safe. We used to say to the people of Jammu to remain cautious. For reaching Kashmir, one has to pass through Jammu to buy land there. First, the buyer will come to Jammu and it is a reality,” he said, attacking the local BJP leadership and said they have no answers because they has promised the people that there is no threat to the land, jobs and scholarships following assurances from the Prime Minister.
Questioning BJP’s use of different yardsticks in different States, he said Haryana Government recently assured the people of the State that 75 percent jobs will be reserved for them and same is the case in Himachal Pradesh and many other parts where no outsider can buy land.
“BJP had done this to J&K because it wanted to avenge the 2014 election results when it failed to achieve its goal of plus 45,” he said and claimed that BJP propaganda had no parallel in the world.
It accused BJP of targeting anyone talking about Article 370 and said “It was not Pakistan’s Constitution which had given us this safeguard. This was the basis of J&K accession with union of India and had it not been there, the structure would not have been there as well.”
He said those who are thinking that National Conference has vanished from J&K and is restricted to a few pockets in the Valley are living in falsehood.
“National Conference is strong in all the regions, whether in Kashmir, Jammu or Ladakh. Many have dreamt of finishing NC but is nowhere today,” he said
He said National Conference never played regional politics, never pitched one region against another, never played politics based on religion, communal lines and caste and always stood for unity of Hindu, Muslim and Sikhs.
Earlier, welcoming the president and the vice president, provincial president Jammu Devender Singh Rana highlighted the role played by land to tiller and other pro poor measures of party towards the socio-economic and political emancipation of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Rana said that the National Conference is the voice of the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists residing in different regions of J&K. He added that party ideology is inclusive and not confined to any region.
Senior leaders, former Ministers and legislators besides a large number of workers were present on the occasion.
Earlier, the president and the vice president were escorted by a rally of the YNC workers from Jammu Airport to Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here.
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