The Bharatiya Janata Party is polarising the country to hide its failures, the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday, and asserted that “it is time for all of us to forge unity and give a befitting reply to those who are hell-bent upon destroying our social fabric”.
Addressing a provincial working committee meeting here, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said: “With reduced credibility, BJP and its ideologue will again rack up the emotive issues. The situation we are facing today is a grim reminder of how low the communal forces can
stoop to axe their own grind. BJP, faced with pulverising debacles in Hindi heart, is shifting to a higher level divisive politics. RSS and its proxies in the state will try to polarise the situation by fanning passions because they have nothing to offer in terms of development and stability”.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir should not fall prey to the divisive agenda of communal forces, he said.
“These forces, directly and indirectly, will try to vitiate the atmosphere but we as a peace-loving society should not allow ourselves get swayed by their malicious propaganda,” he said.
In the forthcoming elections, people of the state will give a befitting reply to forces which are contriving to create friction between various regions of the state, Abdullah said.
Expressing concern over “unremitting” intimidation and attacks on Kashmiri traders and students in various states in India, Abdullah said, “The attacks have made Kashmiris putting up outside the state insecure. The attacks cannot be singled out as a bout of impelled anger and frustration. The kind of warmongering and rhetoric retching against Kashmiris by certain media also played its role to vitiate the atmosphere,” he said.
Expressing dismay over “the laidback attitude” of the incumbent governor’s administration in dealing with the recent incidents of violence in Jammu, he said, “Our politically-proactive governor didn’t heed to step out to pacify the masses and see to the difficulties of stranded Kashmir-bound passengers in Jammu. He shut his eyes and ears to the targeted violence against Kashmiris in Jammu”.