Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has said the anti people policies of the present government and the inability of National Conference (NC) to fulfill its commitments to the people and deliver good governance have led to the emergence of forces which are seeking access to power by dividing people and regions.
Addressing a number of meetings in Kupwara she said from autonomy to removal of AFSPA and providing rations, water supply, power or jobs NC led government failed on every front and gave an opportunity to BJP to emerge as a force in some areas of Jammu province. Party leader and nominated candidate for Kupwara Fayaz Ahmad Mir, Ch Salamudin, Deen Mohammad Cheetah , Adv Khurshid Ah, Haji GH Mohammad Mir, Mohamad Afzal Wani, Peer Mehrajudin and many others were also present on these occasions.
Mehbooba said the hatred against the NC led coalition had created an unprecedented vacuum on the political scene of the state which is filled largely by the PDP which emerged victorious in as many as 41 assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections. Unfortunately the collapse of congress which was the major player in some areas of Jammu as result of its fall at the national level and that performance of its ministers created conditions for BJP to come into the state with a divisive agenda. She said it is obvious that communal polarization on which the BJP has based its ambitions could in ultimate analysis pose a threat to the unity and integrity of state. “ The only practical option would be for the people from all regions of the state to strengthen the progressive initiatives of PDP under the leadership of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed” she added.
Mehbooba said it is a matter of elementary logic that only a party like PDP which has established its popularity among the people can form a government that could neutralize the dangers that BJP rise in the state would entail. She said to resist the negative politics of BJP there is a need for strengthening the hands of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who has throughout his political career struggled to establish a genuine democracy in the state so that the people become the real decision makers of their destiny and nobody is installed in government either on the basis of hollow and divisive slogans or through extra constitutional lifelines.
Mehbooba said NC has no moral authority or political strength to pose as a challenge to BJP. She said it was this party which provided legitimacy to the BJP by aligning itself with the NDA in 1997 when no party in the country would come anywhere near the Sang Pariwar. “When the first government of NDA fell because of cross voting by prof. Saifudin Soz, NC expelled him from the party” Mehbooba said and recalled that NC had no need to join the NDA as it had 60 members in the Assembly but only to get a junior minister’s post for Omar Abdullah it went into the lap of the NDA with the votes secured from the secular population of the only Muslim majority state in the country.
Mehbooba said it is unrealistic to expect a party which has reduced itself from 60 seats in the assembly to just 6 segments in the parliament election to do a miracle of blocking the BJP rise. Even in combination with the congress it would not be able to do so as the congress itself was reduced to less than a dozen segments in the state in Lok Sabha elections, said Mehbooba.
She said NC has lost all moral claims to oppose BJP as it continued to hobnob with it during the last 6 years for its petty political interests. She said seven BJP MLA’s were expelled by their party for having voted for the NC and congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha and Council elections against their own candidates. “Even Omar Abdullah had confessed having used money to buy BJP votes in the council elections”, she said and appealed to the electorate to look beyond local political interests and support the PDP for the larger cause of overhauling the system and safeguarding the interests of J&K.
Mehbooba said the NC leadership instead of working seriously for the people’s cause, has pushed them to the wall through its insensitiveness, callous attitude and mis-governance over the last more than five years. Mehbooba said change is imminent on the ground and even after having read the writing on the wall the ruling party leadership has adopted ostrich like attitude and are now trying to mislead the people through fake promises and deceptive announcements. “NC is a story of broken promises which has not been able to fulfill a single promise to the people from time to time,” she said adding NC has a history of taking the people for granted by not fulfilling the promises it had made to them with the result it has completely lost its credibility and compromised its identity. “This party is now trying to convince people it would do in three months which it could not in six years” she said.
Mehbooba said the development of far-flung areas, like Kupwara, will be priority of the PDP once it is voted to power. She said these areas have faced a systematic neglect during the present government in spite of having voted continuously for the NC. She said the people of these areas are still living in Stone Age because of the lack of infrastructure. “PDP will focus on the socio-economic condition of these areas and will address every infrastructure issue which the areas are presently facing,” she added.