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‘Time will prove our relevance, need no certificate from BJP’, says NC
The National Conference cautioned the BJP against defaming political leadership of Jammu and Kashmir.
The National Conference on Monday asserted that time alone will prove its efficacy and relevance in Jammu and Kashmir’s polity, adding that dignity and welfare of people comes first for the party and not politics.
On Saturday, senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna had said that the people of Kashmir would have hit the streets if Kashmiri politicians had been their real leaders and instead there was “not even a single reaction or word of sympathy” for them in the Valley.
“We don’t need any certificate from the BJP about our relevance in the state politics,” senior National Conference leaders said in a joint statement issued here on Monday evening while reacting to the observations of BJP leaders about significance of detained party president Dr Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir politics.
National Conference president and member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah, his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and several others remain under detention in Srinagar since August 4, a day before the Centre scrapped Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.
“There seems to be inherent contradictions between the government and the BJP leadership. While the Central Government is maintaining that the mainstream political leaders have been detained to prevent them from mobilizing people against the political decisions taken in the recent past, thereby creating breach of peace and on the other hand, the BJP leaders are saying that the mainstream political parties are irrelevant in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said.
“If they are irrelevant, why don’t you release them?” National Conference leaders asked, advising the BJP to shun its phobia of the party and instead reach out to the people and work towards restoration of peace and democracy.
The state is passing through most difficult times and the ruling BJP must come up with a clear road map to deal with the situation instead of indulging in rhetoric, the statement said. “Spreading canards about NC leadership will not work and the BJP should try to provide succour to the people,” it said.
The NC cautioned against defaming political leadership of Jammu and Kashmir, which has withstood test of times and surmounted challenges during most difficult times with courage and fortitude in the larger interest of the people of the region.
They exuded confidence that the party will surmount the present challenge as well at the strength of the support it enjoys across the state. They said the former chief ministers were credited with chequered political career spanning decades with unblemished record of public service, strengthening of communal harmony, working towards peace and steering the state to development and progress.
