National Conference on Tuesday rejected the assertions of BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav as “preposterous and an oblique acceptance of pervasive instability, insecurity and political void in J&K.”
In a statement, the party’s chief spokesperson Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi while rejecting the assertions of BJP’s General Secretary asked him “what political process he was alluding to.”
“National Conference has never hesitated to represent people’s aspirations; we have always been at the forefront when it came to representing people’s aspirations. We have never run away from our obligations. But how can any political activity be started at this juncture when most of the political leaders are still under house detention since unconstitutional scrapping of Articles 370, 35A,” Ruhullah said.
He said those who were released from detention centers have been kept detained in their homes.
“So far the government has only been revolving the doors of detention. The way people’s representatives, former MLAs, ministers, sitting MPs, political activists are being treated since 5 August 2019 speaks volumes about BJP’s repugnance for democratic institutions and elected representatives in J&K,” he said.
“Madhav who is serving sermons on democracy should first introspect rather than point figures. What about those who had already secured people’s confidence in parliamentary elections, why were they circumvented by the BJP led central government while undertaking the unilateral and unconstitutional decisions on August 5? Here we have him serve us lectures on democracy given that they were ones who spoiled the very fragile edifice of democracy in J&K,” said Ruhullah.
He said there was little to show that the purpose of abrogating Article 370 has achieved or was anywhere near being achieved.
“On the contrary BJP is facing public wrath in Jammu, Kargil, Pirpanjal and Chenab valley. The decisions of August 5 have inversely pushed the entire region into a chasm of uncertainty, which the BJP is unable to grapple with despite having the entire government apparatus at their side” he said.
He said National Conference has and will continue to be “synonymous with the genuine political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and there can be no denial to it, even BJP’s founding father and former PM acknowledged it.”
Meanwhile party’s senior leader and MP Baramulla, Muhammad Akbar Lone has censured Ram Madhav for his “foul-mouthed” jibes against Party’s Vice President saying late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had on the floor of Parliament acknowledged the capabilities of Omar Abdullah.