Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 15: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that National Conference (NC) owes an explanation to the people of Jammu & Kashmir for its U-turn on 35A, because the party which had boycotted the recently held Urban Local Body elections with the pledge that it will not participate in an election till the issue of 35A was settled, is now demanding dissolution of State Assembly and is ready to contest the elections in a bid to seek Ministerial berths, regardless of whether the issue of 35A is settled or not.
He said, this is yet another evidence of the National Conference’s long history of treacherous opportunism, the most notorious example of which is the U-turn staged by Sheikh Abdullah in 1975 when he suddenly gave up his 20 year old demand for so called plebiscite, to grab the chair of Chief Minister on the terms and conditions laid down by Indira Gandhi.
Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the 3-day International Conference on Geriatric Medicine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here today, Dr Jitendra Singh was responding to a tweet by former Chief Minister and NC working president Omar Abdullah who had commented that it was “sensible of BJP” to have cleared stand on Governor’s rule.
Without naming anybody, Dr Jitendra Singh said, while the NC leadership has patronizingly commented on the sensibility of BJP, the people of Kashmir have grown wary of the National Conference’s lack of sensibility and lack of sensitivity. He said, the socalled mainstream Kashmir-centric political parties like NC, had done greatest harm to Kashmir by being unfaithful to their own masses with the sole objective of perpetuating their dynasty rule.
Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of the 3-day conference as chief guest, Dr Jitendra Singh said,the Modi Government accords high priority to healthcare and prevention services. The most striking example of this, he said, is the launch of “Ayushman Bharat” programme, which is possibly the biggest health insurance scheme in public sector anywhere in the world. He said, the twin-health challenge faced in India today is, on the one hand majority population comprising of youth and on the other hand progressively increasing population of the elder citizens.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to various other reforms brought about by the Government for the benefit of the elder citizens, including fixation of minimum pension and introduction of bio-metric facility for establishing the identity of the pensioners. He said, with the increasing lifespan, the care of elders is not only a health issue, but also an economic and social issue.
Director AIIMS Dr Randeep Guleria and HoD Geriatric Department Dr Prashun Chatterjee also spoke on the occasion.
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