Jammu: Peoples Conference president and MLA Handwara Sajad Gani Lone on Thursday described the Lieutenant Governor’s address as a “love letter” from National Conference (NC) to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speaking during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the LG’s address, Lone said that the LG’s address appears to be a love letter from the NC to the BJP.
“You have sent many love letters directly to BJP and this one is from the Assembly,” he said.
Lone said the LG’s address overlooks the aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir.
“I had thought that it would be a medley of aspirations and grievances. While the administrative grievances have been mentioned extensively, it is very weak in the aspiration part, which should have been in consonance with the manifesto of the ruling party,” he said.
Lone said in LG’s address there is no mention of autonomy, Article 370, 35A, revisiting J&K Reorganization Act-2019, repeal of Public Safety Act, release of prisoners and other commitments made by NC.
“On page number 10 of your manifesto, it is stated that we will strive for implementation of autonomy resolution, but there is no mention of it in the LG address. You talk about restoration of Article 370, Article 35A as prior to August 5, 2019 but there is no mention of it in LG’s speech,” he said.
Lone said what happened with the people of J&K over the past five years was unjust.
“It seemed as if they were declaring war on the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially Kashmiris, on August 5, 2019. Everyone was arrested, phone lines were cut off, and it felt like a huge war was about to break out,” he said.
Lone said the message from the Assembly should reflect the pain of people of J&K.
“The messaging from here should reflect the pain of the people. Everything has to be done by the Parliament. Whether it is statehood, laws, Article 370, or Article 35A, it will ultimately come from the Government of India. But what message are we sending to the people of J&K and India? That we are ready to work on old salaries and even less? The aspirations of our people should have been reflected,” Lone said.
Lone said the government was protecting BJP by not bringing a resolution on statehood in the assembly.
“If you are serious about restoration of statehood, why haven’t you brought the resolution on statehood into the assembly? By not doing so you are protecting BJP,” Lone said.
“The aspirations never die and by not addressing the aspirations of the people, it can snowball into much more monstrous major problems in years to come,” he said, accusing NC of normalising August 5, 2019 changes.
Lone also slammed BJP over remarks made by its leader Sunil Sharma on July 13, 1931 martyrs. “Nobody has the right to denigrate what is sacred to us,” he said.
