Srinagar: Urging people to use their voting power to reject the traditional parties, Apni Party President, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, on Sunday said that “the deceptions of these parties and their leaders are now exposed in front of the people.”
He said, “They have even lost the deceptive narratives that they would employ to befool people over the years and decades.”
Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari made these comments during his speeches at party conventions held at Muniwar Khanabal, and Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. These events were part of the party’s ongoing campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
In his speeches, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari said that the traditional parties and their leaders can no longer deceive people through false narratives and emotionally charged slogans.
He said, “The traditional parties, especially those run by two families, have long misled the public with false narratives and emotionally charged slogans. However, their deceit has been laid bare, and their once-potent narratives have crumbled. Nobody is going to trust their slogans like ‘Raishumari’, ‘Autonomy’, ‘Self-rule’, and others anymore.
People know that they have been deceived by these parties and their leaders through these misleading slogans.”
He said that once the Apni Party gets a public mandate, it will hold these parties accountable for their role in shedding innocent blood on this land.
He said, “One of these parties is responsible for the killings of more than 100 innocent people in 2010, while the other killed 128 individuals and blinded young boys and girls by using pellet guns in 2016. I promise you that once the Apni Party receives a public mandate, it will ensure that these ruthless politicians and so-called leaders face the force of justice. We will ensure that the parents who lost their children receive justice.”
He went on to say, “One of the leaders who were at the helm in 2016, when bullets rained down, even on children, shamelessly justified these killings by heartlessly remarking, ‘Kiya ye bachay chocolates aur doodh lene niklay thay’ (Had these children come out of their homes to fetch chocolates and milk for themselves). These ruthless words will always haunt people in Kashmir.”
Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari urged people to use the power of their vote to reject traditional parties and their leaders in these elections.
He said, “I wonder how shamelessly these parties come to the people to seek their votes. Last time, in 2019, they urged people to vote for them so that they could protect Article 370 and 35A in Parliament. People trusted them and elected three members of one party. The other one also had three members in the Rajya Sabha. Yet, they chose to remain silent when these articles were revoked on August 5, 2019. These so-called public representatives did not even bother to resign in protest of the abrogation of these articles. And now, despite their betrayal, the same parties shamelessly seek the people’s votes once again. I urge the people to reject them through the power of their votes.”
He appealed to the people to vote for the Apni Party’s candidate, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, in the Rajouri-Anantnag parliamentary constituency.
He said, “Ours is a new party, and we are participating in the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. I assure you that if you grant us your mandate, we will never disappoint you. I request you to vote for Zaffar Sahib so that he can effectively represent the sentiments of the people in parliament.”
