Srinagar: Peoples Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday accused the National Conference (NC) of “killing merit” through its handling of reservations and alleged that Kashmiri candidates are being “deliberately left out” of government job opportunities.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Lone, who is also MLA from Handwara, said his party will soon launch a “full-fledged campaign” against the ongoing reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir.
“This government is out to kill merit. Open merit has been buried. We are going to start a ground-level registration drive against this policy,” Lone said, warning that the system “is pushing Kashmir towards a major disaster.”
He said his party will take to the streets if needed. “We will go door to door. If hunger strikes or mass protests are required, we will not hesitate. Enough is enough!” he added.
Lone also launched a strong attack on the National Conference, accusing it of being “hand in glove” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
“These two or three extra votes had no room for that (NC) candidate number four,” Lone said. “Even if there had been no cross-voting, that candidate would still have lost. All the cross-voting was done by the National Conference. They did it themselves.”
He claimed seven NC members “directly gifted their votes to the BJP”.
“It was a fixed match,” Lone said. “This is the same party that accused others of being with the BJP. And today, they are sitting in the BJP’s lap.”
Lone said the NC’s actions have exposed its claims of being an opposition force. “Our people must open their eyes and see how they were deceived. Even if BJP is not in power directly, their preferred party is ruling now,” he said.
Criticising NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, Lone said the Congress was deliberately denied a winnable Rajya Sabha seat. “They offered Congress a losing seat, number four. Omar Abdullah was asking, ‘Why don’t they contest for number four?’ They wanted it this way,” he said.
Lone argued that the Congress, as a national party, should have been given priority. “A national party carries a different weight on the national stage. Regional parties do not,” he said.
He further accused the NC’s past Rajya Sabha members of failing to deliver in Delhi. “None of them brought anything substantial back. They only went there to get small personal favors,” Lone said.
Calling the NC’s political approach “submissive before Delhi,” Lone said, “For seventy years, this has been the story. They go to Delhi saying ‘beat us but let us weep’. They ask Delhi to tighten the stick while pretending to resist here.”
On the abrogation of Article 370, Lone alleged that “midnight meetings” between Delhi and NC leaders before August 5, 2019, were full of “betrayal after betrayal.”
He urged the people of Jammu and Kashmir to “wake up” and recognize what he described as “a long-standing political deception”.
“The BJP ensures the victory of its own candidates through these same people. They (NC) abuse BJP during elections to fool voters, but they are working together behind the scenes,” Lone said
The Peoples Conference chief said he was “grateful to Allah” for staying away from what he termed “this entire corrupt process”. “I thank Almighty Allah that I abstained from voting, otherwise today all fingers would have been pointed at me,” he said. (With inputs from KNO)
