A day after J&K Bank chairman Mushtaq Ahmad defended the J-K government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recent pact, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said the decision was a serious blow to state’s dignity, self respect and self reliance.
Mehbooba rejected, what she calls a lane excuse, forwarded by the state government to defend its decision to move away from JK Bank’s overdraft facility to the RBI’s ways and means arrangement. “It was unfortunate that the government had now deployed the Bank management to defend a decision that has serious political implications and disastrous consequences for governance in the state,” said Mehbooba in a statement.
She said “while the government itself has been unable to convince anyone on the subject, it is ironical that the bank owned by it should call the decision to surrender state’s only financial mechanism to centre a win-win situation for all. “It was a political issue and not a management concern,” she said.
Mehbooba said the ‘benefits’ of the decision that the government claimed to flow out of its dumping of JK Bank as its lender have been rejected by experts and the public opinion. “The decision’s fallout has already started being felt as even at the beginning of the fiscal year bills have been bouncing from the treasuries,” alleged Mehbooba adding “in certain cases even the salaries are in default and daily wagers and seasonal workers hardly ever received their dues in months”.
Even as the National Conference made noises about its autonomy demand, Mehbboba said, in practice it was conceding even the last remnants of it to stay in power. “The NC in a similar brazen manner sold out state’s water resources and has now resorted to ‘mythological sources’ to show itself as the saviour of our interests,” said Mehbooba.
{{/usCountry}}Even as the National Conference made noises about its autonomy demand, Mehbboba said, in practice it was conceding even the last remnants of it to stay in power. “The NC in a similar brazen manner sold out state’s water resources and has now resorted to ‘mythological sources’ to show itself as the saviour of our interests,” said Mehbooba.
{{/usCountry}}Mehbooba alleged that even after that the NC ruled the state for more than two decades with huge legislative majority that was misused to further disempower the state. “Dr Farooq Abdullah signed away seven most feasible power projects to central government even without the formality of a proper government order while his party was in coalition with the BJP at the centre,” she alleged adding, “this was done only to secure a ministerial berth for Omar Abdullah which seemed to be the singular ‘gain’ for the state out of that humiliating alliance”.