NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised to pay tributes to his late father and founder of the party accused Bharatiya Janata Party of playing divisive politics while giving clean chit to his party. He was ostensibly reacting to the statement of a senior central BJP leader who in a recently published article had said, “While the Sheikh had used plebiscite and secession as the chimera for his political ends, his scions are using Islam to deceive the Valley youth. The Plebiscite Front merged into NC and Sheikh became the CM. But the separatist fire it ignited played a havoc in the 1980s and 90s. The Gupkar leaders are resorting to that dangerous game once again, this time in name of Islam.” He was responding to a communally loaded article written by Omar Abdullah and showing mirror to the Abdullahs, stated Brig Veteran Anil Gupta Spokesperson of BJP in a press release issued here today.
The growing public resentment against the dynasty and the seething anger among the youth who consider them the root cause of all that ails the Valley today should have prepared the Abdullahs to face the mirror but obviously they are not prepared for the same and think that they can win back the lost turf by BJP bashing asserted Brig Gupta who further said, “Truth is bitter to digest.”
“Despite their tall claims of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Itihaad, can NC deny the fact that the ideology of the party throughout has been “exclusivity” and “intolerance”? The tunnel vision from which the party suffers cannot view beyond a particular region and religious sect. The seed of communalism sowed by Abdul Qadir was carried forward by the Sheikh in form of Quit Kashmir movement, a purely communal movement aimed at throwing out the Hindu Dogra ruler,” asserted Brig Gupta.
NC heralded the era of divisive politics by implementing its policy of “land to the tillers” hailed as a revolutionary reform but aimed to benefit only a particular community. Can Farooq explain as to why orchards were kept away from the purview of this Act? So much so that in order to ensure that the discriminatory Act cannot be challenged, the people of J&K were denied Fundamental Rights rued Brig Gupta. Wasn’t the subsequent arbitrary delimitation of assembly seats not an act of divisive politics?
How can Farooq condone himself of the atrocities and miseries committed on the Kashmiri Pandit community under his watch when the streets and mosques in Kashmir were reverberating with slogans baying for the blood of minority Hindus which ultimately led to their exodusquestioned Brig Gupta? NC and Farooq claim to be nationalists and take umbrage when referred as pro-separatists but did not take any action against their then MLA who shouted “Pakistan Zindabad” on the floor of the house and instead rewarded him with a seat to the Parliament. Has Farooq forgotten his statement of 05 December 2016 when he openly pledged support to the Hurriyat and directed his cadre to support the separatists?
Even Omar is no less. His tweets of “Islamophobia” made his intentions clear. Even his latest article blaming the government for not appointing even a single Muslim in top hierarchy is nothing but a dirty attempt to rouse communal passions stated Brig Gupta.
NC is best advised to look inwards and institute measures to prove its secular credentials rather than accusing BJP which has a clean track record of holistic politics with all its schemes aimed at a particular segment of the society without any discrimination of region or religion.