Srinagar: The National Conference on Wednesday expressed anger over the ED summoning party president Farooq Abdullah for questioning for second time within a week, and said these tactics are only aimed at “browbeating” opposition leaders who raise their voice against the BJP’s “divisive politics”.
Immediately after Farooq Abdullah went in for his second round of questioning in three days, party spokesman Imran Nabi Dar issued a statement criticizing the government for what it called an “agenda of cornering any voices of dissent”.
Farooq Abdullah’s son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah also expressed his displeasure and tweeted the party statement on his father’s summoning with a comment: “This on a day when my father turns 84!”
“How many times will BJP use CBI, ED, anti-corruption bureau and its other agencies to browbeat opposition? The plot has become predictable. Anyone who speaks against the government or musters courage against its divisive politics will be hounded and summoned,” NC spokesperson said.
Terming these ED summons “calculated coercive measures”, NC spokesperson said that it is aimed at curtailing Farooq Abdullah’s efforts to weave unity among mainstream political parties in J&K.
Calling the repeated ED summons as pressure tactics, he said, “What is it that ED forgot to ask during the six hours it interrogated an 83-yr-old Member of Parliament?”
The government and its agencies, the spokesperson said, has no consideration for a law-abiding citizen who is severely immune-compromised and diabetic.
“Abdullah being treated like this is a proof that the BJP is not even interested in a face-saving act and is completely comfortable with being seen as a bully by the nation,” he said.
He said that the “only way to get a clean chit these days is to surrender ones ideology and join the BJP. We’ve seen this story play out from Assam to Karnataka, from West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh but Dr Abdullah is not going to surrender to the BJP, come what may.”
Pertinently, after Monday’s questioning, the People’s Alliance, a newly-formed conglomerate of mainstream political parties, had condemned summoning of Abdullah and termed it as part of vindictive politics practised by the Centre to kill dissent and disagreement across the country.
The alliance, which came into existence to carry forward the ‘Gupkar Declaration’ seeking restoration of status quo of the erstwhile state as it existed on August 04 last year through constitutional means, said such “tactics” will not dampen the conglomerate’s resolve for restoration of statehood and special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Condemning the ED action, it said such actions were part of vindictive politics practised by the central government to kill dissent and disagreement across the country and in present case to silence the genuine demand for reversal of unilateral and unconstitutional decisions of August 05, 2019 under which the state was bifurcated into union territories — Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir — and the special status guaranteed under Articles 370 and 35-A of the Constitution were abrogated.
