NC sold out state intrests, resources: Ansari
Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senior leader and Former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig has said NC has been persuing only the ideology of ‘power at any cost’ and it has never been bothered by the welfare of the people or their political problems. Responding to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s observation that the upcoming elections were an ideological battle Baig said the Chief Minister’s words donot amount to any thing except the usual poll time rhetoric by the NC, but “ there are no takers now for their statements”.
Baig who is the party’s candidate for Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency was addressing a meeting of workers from Sonawari and Gurez Assembly Segments of Bandipora district. On this occasion senior PDP leader Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Chief Spokesman Naeem Akhtar, Molvi Abid Hussain Ansari, District President Yasir Reshi also attended and addressed the meeting.
Baig said the elections to Lok Sabha would be the crucial first step towards a change in the system and government in the state. He said there of course would be a battle, but it will be between the arrogance of power that has blinded the NC to people’s problems on the one side and humility , a political vision and road map for development on the other which PDP represents. He said NC has degenerated as a political party into mere power broking structure that has had only the numerical strength in the assembly, but always lacked the credibility of a ruling party. He said the Lok sabha elections will in a good measure determine the future course of history in Jammu & Kashmir as it could send the NC and its exploitative structure into the dust bin of history.
Baig said the people of the state this time have a clear choice to make wether they want to give PDP a chance with a decisive mandate or continue with the antipeople policies of NC and its rusted and out dated politics .He said voting for PDP in the Lok Sabha elections would be the first step towards a change that the people of the state have been wanting for the last six years.
Baig said the election time is an hour of reckoning for all political parties. The emergence of PDP as credible alternative has ended the monopoly of the NC and it is now time that the people judge both parties on the basis of their policies , the credibility of their leadership and their performance in government and in opposition. “It will be very easy for any body to find out that PDP is way ahead of NC on all these counts” Baig said.
Referring to the Chief Minister’s another statement that “Dr Farooq was never my best friend” Baig said this is an attempt by the Chief Minister to distance himself from his father who has made himself even more unpopular with his recent abusive statements against people of Kashmir. Baig said Omar has realised that by calling Kashmiris Maha Chors (Big theives) Farooq Abdullah has finally burnt his bridges with the people who have for decades helped the family to enjoy luxuries of power and is dissociating with Senior Abdullah. Farooq’s statement is in the nature of ‘ Pot calling kettle black’ as he is facing a serious charges of embazelment in the cricket scam in which the police has reportedly established his involvement, said Baig. He said Omar also is in the dock for the suspicious death of Haji Yousuf and the dirty money that the Abdullahs have been collecting to fix mandates and ministerial positions.
Baig said to remain in the power the NC has been exploiting people on hallow promises from last more than 60 years now. “Be it in 1975 or 1996, the NC has always betrayed people and compromised their interests, self-respect for the sake of power,” they have been treating people as their slaves and it is their deliberate strategy to defame the image of Kashmiri’s to remain relevant in certain quarters in New Delhi, Baig added.
Baig said all the U-turns that NC leadership has taken throughout its history has resulted in a serious trust deficit between the people of Kashmir and rest of the country. He said NC whippedup emotions in Kashmir in the name of pelbicite, autonomy which caused turmoil but never gave the people a chance to use their vote in a free and fair exercise. The rigg polls angered the youth who were forced to takeup arms and NC again posed as the only nationalist force and sought license from Delhi to manage Kashmir. ‘ when they propagated seperatism no body could match them and when they pose as nationalists they claim that every body else is an enemy agent and sending their oponents to jail and use bullets to silence any protest or voices of dissent’ Baig said adding that in the process the NC leadership accumulated wealth , built huge estates in and outside the state, looted our resources and converted the state into a begging bowl.
Speaking on this Occasion Senior Party leader Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari said NC leadership has sold the most feasible power projects to NHPC only for the chair. ‘Meter Todo; Heater Lago’ (break meters, use heaters) slogan, by NC during 2008, was an assault on the system, which PDP had reformed during its brief stint in the government. He said they went back on this promise and instead gave consumers a shock by raising the electricity tariff five fold in the last five years. “Instead of their promises, what they gave the people of Kashmir pellet guns, chilli grenades, PSAs, arrests, disabilities and police cases, adding that the NC promoted darkness with load shedding touching new lowest level of power supply,
Molvi said they(NC) handed over the administration to middle man, agents and bringing development process to a halt. While the ministers and ruling party politicians became richer, the state became poorer and people, from whom NC took votes on the promise of good governance, where subjected to unending curfews, tear gassing, lathi charge, if they ever raised their voices against the government atrocities.