The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has miserably failed to deliver on the promises it made during the election campaign of 2014, the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Wednesday, and asserted that “the failed government and a failed prime minister need to be shown the door”.
Addressing a public meeting at mujahid manzil Budgam, Farooqsaid that democracy is a “humbling experience” and that people of the countryare “seeking answers from PM Modi on issues of price rise and unemployment”.
“During Modi’s stint as the chief minister of Gujarat, he used to mock the previous governments on these issues, but what has he done now? The people of the country, especially our mothers and sisters across the country, are finding it very difficult to run their households in view of soaring prices of essentials.
Modi had promised to deliver on various issues concerning the nation during his 2014 election campaign, but he has aggravated the problems to an extent that it will take decades to solve them,” Farooq said, according to a National Conference statement issued here.
“The Modi government presents a tale of failures andmis-governance. People have now made it a point to give a befitting reply toModi for his failures and lies in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” Farooqsaid.
In a frontal attack on the BJP-run central government, theNC president said that PM Modi “squandered the mandate of the people by hisimprudent policies”.
“We in the parliament knew that the government has failed todeliver on key issues that the country is facing, and so they would create awar-like situation in the country to divert the attention of the people fromthe real issues affecting the poor, particularly farmers and the labour class,”he said.
Slamming the PM for “creating war hysteria in the country to divert the attention of people from farm distress, price rise and other foreign policy failures”, Farooq said: “War is no solution, it brings with itself innumerable miseries.
The tallest leader of BJP once said that friends can be changed, but neighbours cannot be changed. However, Modi failed to carry forward the legacy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee”.
Alleging that the Modi-led government “devalued” institutions in the country “by impeding their working”, Farooq said: “The Modi government has tried to destroy the autonomy of the RBI, and various other institutions. The autonomy of the institutions has been compromised.
The Modi government and its ideologue RSS are sending a message that India is only for the adherents for a particular religion. But let me make it clear that India is for all Indians, it belongs to each one of us, irrespective of our colour, creed and faith”.
“Not just have the religious minorities been threatened,attempts were made to erode their political rights conferred upon them by thevery constitution of India,” he said.
The agenda of the BJP-RSS is divisive, Farooq said, addingthat “we saw how they are contriving to vitiate the atmosphere of our state”.
“But we as peace-loving people should never allow ourselvesto fall prey into the hands of their shenanigans, we should strike unity andwork for a country where in all of us live amicably and derive our share fromthe development and prosperity,” he said.
Cautioning the people against the RSS-BJP and “their croniesand henchmen”, Farooq said: “The forces which are inimical to the identity andintegrity of state will try their level best to use men, money to impedeelection, but we have to put up a strong front and work tirelessly to ensure thatall the candidates of NC win by resounding margins. Only then we can work for atolerant and secular India. Our vote will make a difference”.
Among others, the party’s vice-president Omar Abdullah,general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani,chief spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Aga Syed Mahmood, Dr MohammadShafi, Prof Abdul Majeed Matto, Ali Muhammad Dar, Manzoor Wani, Abdul Ahad Dar,Tanvir Sadiq and Shammi Oberoi, addressed the gathering.
Meanwhile, a meeting of south-zone segment in-charges washeld at NC headquarters in Srinagar. It was presided over by Farooq Abdullah,while the vice-president Omar Abdullah addressed the meeting.
The issues related to ensuing elections were deliberatedduring the meeting, while Farooq and Omar urged the party functionaries toleave no stone unturned to ensure that Justice Masoodi, the party’s candidatefor southern Kashmir, wins by a resounding victory, the NC statement read.
“Omar asked the party functionaries to remain vigilant ofthe machinations of the RSS-BJP and its cronies in the state. The party functionaries, segment in-chargesof southern Kashmir vowed to strengthen the hands of Hasnain Masudi,” thestatement read.
Meanwhile, former MLC Kupwara Rafiq Ahmad Shah was welcomedinto the party fold by the vice president Omar Abdullah at his Gupkarresidence.