Jammu: National Conference leaders and workers paid homage to party founder Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, popularly known as ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’ on his 116th birth anniversary on Sunday, an NC spokesman said.
Leading the party in paying homage to Sheikh Abdullah at the NC headquarters here, provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta said “maintaining the unity and single entity of Jammu and Kashmir will be a befitting tribute to the visionary leader”, who fought all his life for well-being of the people and strengthening the bonds of communal amity.
Gupta stressed the crucial need for strengthening and sustaining the time-tested unity, saying no society would progress if its foundations are laid on myopic considerations.
“Secular bonding is the spirit which has all along guided the National Conference,” Gupta said as he recalled the slogan of “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Itehad (unity) raised by Sheikh Sahib during most turbulent times”.
The NC leader said the high point of Abdullah’s legacy has been inclusiveness, tranquility and harmony among people belonging to various faiths and regions.
“There is immense need for carrying forward this legacy to build progressive, secular and peaceful Jammu and Kashmir, which is facing numerous challenges posed by divisive elements,” he said.
In his tributes, former minister Ajay Kumar Sadhotra said “sustaining secular ethos is the best and befitting tribute to Sheikh Abdullah, a towering among tallest of leaders of his times in the sub-continent”.
Sadhotra recalled his glorious role in strengthening amity and regional unity at a time when the entire sub-continent was in communal frenzy.
“We are proud inheritors of this legacy”, he said, recalling the landmark and pioneering Land Reforms Act, which empowered the farmers by making them masters of their own destiny overnight.
Sadhotra said progressive outlook and the vision of Sher-e-Kashmir transformed Jammu and Kashmir into a vibrant state where people of all the faiths enjoy equal opportunities of progress and development.
