National Conference on Wednesday expressed anger over fresh Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summon to the party President, Farooq Abdullah, a day after he was questioned by the agency for six hours. The party hit out at the government for its agenda of cornering any voices of dissent.
Terming the ED summons “calculated coercive measures”, the party spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said these summons aimed at curtailing Abdullah’s efforts to weave unity among mainstream political parties in J&K.
Calling the repeated ED summons as pressure tactics, he said: “What is it that the ED forgot to ask during the six hours it interrogated the 83-year-old old Member of Parliament again?”
“The government and its agencies have no consideration for a law abiding citizen who are severely immune compromised and diabetic,” said the spokesperson. “Dr Abdullah being treated like this is a proof that the BJP is not even interested in a face saving act and is completely comfortable with being seen as a bully by the nation.”
The spokesperson asked how many times would the BJP use CBI, ED, anti-corruption Bureau and other agencies to browbeat opposition. He said the plot has become predictable. “Anyone who speaks against the government or musters courage against its divisive politics will be hounded and summoned,” he said.
He said the only way to get a clean chit these days was to surrender one’s ideology and join the BJP. “We’ve seen this story play out from Assam to Karnataka, from West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh but Dr Abdullah is not going to surrender to the BJP, come what may,” the spokesperson said.