Coming down heavily on Vikramaditya Singh, the Congress leader and Maharaja Hari Singh’s grandson for insulting martyrs of 13th July 1931, various political parties have condemned the remarks.
Rejecting the remarks and without naming Congress leaderVikramaditya Singh, National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said, “…the obnoxious remarks emanating from some untutored sections against themartyrs of 1931. … brutish assertions against the martyrs who laid theirlives for the dignity and self respect shows the disdain the scions oferstwhile autocrats hold for the cherished values of democracy.”
“The party had on various occasions rejected such assertionsfrom time to time as having emanated from the untutored and communal elements.The uprising of 1931 was that of an oppressed against the oppressors, ofdefenseless against the armed, of poor against the landed gentry. The day marked the commencement of a peacefulstruggle by the unarmed people against the then anti-Muslim and anti peoplegovernment,” he said.
“A ruthlessautocratic government that taxed almost everything under sky, leaving justwater and air for free for the poor masses. Such uncouth and untaughtassertions of erstwhile autocratic scion cannot help him exonerate his familyfrom unleashing the worst torments on the people of Kashmir in the shape offorced-labor (Begaar),” he added.
AIP president Engineer Rasheed called a statement by theCongress leader and Maharaja Hari Singh grandson about the July 1931 martyrs as”shameful, misleading and distortion of facts”.
“Vikramaditya Singh must collect the courage and apologisefor the huge atrocities his grandfather committed on innocent Kashmiris,”Engineer Rashid said, in a written statement.
“Those praisingMaharaja must not forget that Maharaja had bulldozed basic rights of citizens,snatched their religious freedom and given liberty even to his Chowkidars tomurder and rape anyone they would wish. From Maharaja to his ordinaryChowkidars everyone would treat state like its concubine and their process oflooting even day to day edibles of common masses was far worse than today’sgangsters.”
Those who were martyred on July 13, 1931 will remainnational heroes till dooms day and every year on July 13 Maharaja’s era will becondemned, he said.
Peoples Conference senior vice president and former ministerAbdul Gani Vakil on Friday strongly condemned the statement of senior Congressleader Vikramaditya Singh on the martyrs of July1931.
Vakil, in a statement, said, “Vikramaditya Singh’s remarkson the innocent Kashmiris who were brutally killed by the Mahraja’s forces on13 July, 1931 are not only offensive and noxious but also a gives an idea ofthe sick mindset of Congress leaders”, he said.
Accusing the Congress leadership of being the mother of allills in Kashmir, Vakil said that, “Congress leadership is more vicious and vilethan RSS-BJP and responsible for all the mess in Kashmir. There are responsiblefor eroding the autonomy of the state right from 1953 till the fall of theOmar-led NC-Congress coalition government in 2014. They changed thenomenclature of political administration by re-designating the Sadr-e-Riyasatand Prime Minister as Governor and Chief Minister.”
Criticising the National Conference, Vakil said, “The NCleadership’s silence on the statement of Vikramaditya Singh is shameful andexposes their duplicity and moral bankruptcy. While on the one hand theypretend to value the sacrifices of the martyrs of July 13 and on the other theywatch their alliance partners abuse and disrespect the martyrs with foldedhands. They are quiet because they don’t want to annoy the Congressleadership”, he added.
Vakil further accused the NC of selectively paying homage tothe martyrs of 1931 “while forgetting about those who were massacred duringtheir rule”.