Jammu: Describing “hate” as a weapon to win elections in India, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday alleged that the BJP and RSS are spreading it to win the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.
Abdullah called upon people to fight hate to save Jammu and Kashmir as well as the country, and warned that if hatred continues to grow, India’s disintegration cannot be stopped.
“We have to fight communalism. We have to bring down the wall of hatred being created between Hindus and Muslims. We have to end this hatred. Without this, neither India survives nor this state (J&K). If we have to save India, we have to put an end to this hate,” Abdullah told party workers here according to a NC press release.
He said that the politics of hate has been made a weapon based on which elections are being won since Independence. “…I have seen this in every election since Independence. Muslim leaders are taken to Muslim areas and Hindu leaders go to Hindu areas,” he said.
Abdullah accused the BJP of propagating the politics of hate and divide to win elections in UP.
“Last election was also won in Balakote. The BJP government came to power. Today, they are doing the same thing. Today, they are again spreading hate even in Jammu to win elections in UP,” he said, referring to the Balakot air strike following the Pulwama suicide attack in 2019.
“Has the Line (Line of Control) changed? Have we taken back any area from Pakistan? The line exists on the ground. They were instrumental in shooting down their own plan there,” he said.
Maintaining that the NC “will save J&K from disintegration”, he said that Jammu is the gateway to Kashmir and Kashmir is the gateway to Ladakh. “If they (BJP government) think they will break this state, I want to tell them: beware, do not have this mindset. This country will not survive,” he said.
Abdullah warned the ruling party in Delhi that growing hatred can disintegrate India. “If this hatred continues to grow here, I want to tell those who are ruling in Delhi that beware, India will be disintegrated in parts that they cannot stop. They cannot save it.”
“As long as we have brotherhood here, nothing will happen. There is no threat from outside but from inside if brotherhood ends here. We don’t have threats from China and Pakistan. They cannot do anything as long we are strong here. So strengthen that brotherhood and make this part strong,” he added.
On the NC and its leaders being dubbed as pro-Pakistan, Abdullah said that the party lost 3,000 of its men, including its ministers, to militancy but kept the Indian flag flying high in Kashmir.
The NC leader also slammed the central government over hike in prices of essential commodities and said the rates of petrol and diesel are touching the sky, making the lives of commoners miserable.
He alleged that the BJP has made Jammu and Kashmir a hell instead of a paradise that it had promised to the people.
… rejects as lies Satya Pal Malik’s charge on Roshni scheme
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday rejected as “lies” former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik’s charge that he and his son Omar Abdullah were beneficiaries of the Roshni scheme.
In a video clip that has gone viral, Malik is purportedly seen claiming that the Abdullahs and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti had got plots of land under the Roshni scheme.
Farooq Abdullah rejected Malik’s charge as lies.
Malik, who was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir when Article 370 was abrogated, now holds the gubernatorial post in Meghalaya.
Addressing his party workers here, Abdullah said, “First he (Malik) lied to us that Article 370 will not be scrapped. It will continue. Later he said that the prime minister had told him that only Article 35-A will be removed, and not Article 370. He tells lies.”
Abdullah said that lies are being spread all over the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Roshni Act was brought in by the government with the aim of granting proprietary rights to occupants of state land in lieu of charges. The money thus generated was to be used for setting up hydroelectric power plants in the erstwhile state.
However, the scheme was disbanded after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court declared it illegal and directed the CBI to investigate the beneficiaries of the scheme.
In November last year, the Jammu and Kashmir administration named former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah in a list of scheme beneficiaries and alleged a residential house in Jammu was built on illegally-possessed land. The Abdullahs have denied it.
On some Jammu-based NC leaders quitting the party, Abdullah said such developments will not affect the party.
“NC will never die…. Jammu and Kashmir will only be saved by the NC. The BJP and the RSS will be wiped out,” he said. (PTI)
