Close on the heels of Mufti Sayeed-led PDP-BJP alliance’s completion of hundred days in office, Opposition National Conference (NC) on Saturday held a rally in Srinagar to pick up holes in the alleged mis-governance in the embattled State. From failure to rehabilitate flood victims to the allegations of saffronising the Muslim-dominated State, the NC chief and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blamed his successor for committing “blunder after blunder” following the alliance between PDP and BJP.
Abdullah led an impressive rally attended by thousands of people including youngsters at historic lal Chowk where he launched first organised salvo against the ruling coalition. “Mufti sahib, you have failed and failed miserably on all fronts,” Abdullah shouted as his senior party colleagues and legislators backed up the firebrand leader.
He blamed that the Government, despite completing 100 days, has not taken up development work at any place in the State. “The condition of flood victims including the traders is pitiable. They yearn for relief and compensation,” Omar said. He said his party will show the coalition as to how the flood victims could have been rehabilitated. “We had planned to rehabilitate the flood victims by sending Rs44,000 crore package to Delhi. We will make you to rehabilitate the way we had planned”, he said. He mocked at the Government over demanding Rs1000 from schoolchildren for restoration of their flood-affected schools.
Omar clarified that his rally was not to threaten the stability of the Government but to agitate against “Chief Minister’s silence on crucial issues”. “The Government is committing blunders after blunders. It is our responsibility to correct the Government”, he said recalling Mufti Sayeed’s promises to rehabilitate flood victims and offer jobs to unemployed youth. Omar asked the Chief Minister as to what happened to his promise that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “show a bigger heart and pump in money to J&K”.
Abdullah said that his party would not allow RSS to further its agenda in Jammu and Kashmir. “We will not allow eviction of Muslims from Jammu. It is unacceptable”, he said. He said that he had made a last ditch effort to keep BJP-RSS out of power in J&K by offering support to Mufti but the latter preferred to rub shoulders with the RSS. “The results are before the public”, he said.
Advocating dialogue with Pakistan he said there was no other option to move forward. “New Delhi needs to build friendship with Pakistan for resolution of issues”, he said. Referring to recent civilian killings in Sopore where two activists of Syed Ali Geelni-led Hurriyat Conference were killed following a militant outfit’s attempt to ban mobile telephony, Omar Abdullah blamed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for the emerging situation. “Parrikar’s statement that terrorists should be killed by terrorists has resulted in the resurgence of (notorious counter-insurgency group) Ikhwan. It is in this backdrop that civilian killings are taking place in Sopore”, Abdullah blamed.
Omar slammed Mufti for succumbing to RSS-BJP pressures on issues like release of political prisoners. The NC recently released a 17-page counter report to PDP-BJP’s ‘Agenda for Alliance,’ stating the government had done nothing except “taking U-turns on all crucial issues.”