BJP losing sleep over PAGD white paper: Dr Farooq

Srinagar, Mar 2: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Party President and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said communal forces are day in day out trying to politically neutralise the region’s real representative democratic forces.
Finding themselves in a sticky situation, these communal forces under the smokescreen of electoral redistricting are gerrymandering to politically isolate the real representative and democratic forces of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Farooq said while addressing party’s local unit functionaries of the district Ganderbal at party district headquarters.
Among others party General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, district president Ganderbal Haji Ghulam Mohammad Rather, party functionaries were also present on the occasion.
Ridiculing the BJP’s remarks that PAGD’s white paper is a desperate attempt to regain lost power in J&K, Dr Farooq said that BJP and it’s local proxies who perversely are endeavouring to grab power, themselves fit the description.
“People know who is desperate to grab power. Everything is before them. We are not in politics to grab power, but to protect political, cultural and economic interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Knowing that they cannot swoop in to grab power through democratic means, BJP and it’s proxies are engineering defections by employing perverse tactics. Today the youth of Jammu, Pir Panjal, Chenab, and Kashmir are disenchanted. BJP’s self-styled version of Naya Kashmir has so far only entailed falsehood and deceit,” he said.
He said the brewing disenchantment among the youth of Jammu, Kashmir, Pir Panjal and Chenab is giving BJP sleepless nights. “We challenge the BJP to counter our white paper with its own white paper. We challenge the BJP government on its claims of providing jobs, investment and development. A lie has no legs. This BJP knows. The myths they have been churning out are about to die universal death,” he added.
Formation of PAGD, he said, was the redefining moment in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. “NC is not up for petty electoral gains. I along with other constituent members of PAGD are working for a much larger cause and purpose to restore J&Ks abridged constitutional and democratic rights,” he said.
Accusing the NATO expansion of steering Ukraine towards bloodshed, Dr Farooq said the troubled country is paying the price for needless provocation to Russia, he said, “I hope the involved parties take to the path of negotiation and restore peace in the embattled region. It is the people who are at the receiving end. Both the involved parties should redress each other’s concerns.”
Referring to the development undergoing development activities in the district Ganderbal, he said that he will take stock of the ongoing development activities in the district in the upcoming meeting with the district administration. “During Covid days, I deemed it my prime responsibility to help Covid care efforts. It was for this reason I made all my MPLAD funds available for the underway efforts that were being carried out by district administration of Ganderbal, Srinagar, and Budgam to grapple with the pandemic. Special monetary provisions for Kangan and Ganderbal were also made to grapple with the biggest ever public health nightmares, we ever had faced. Now that the pandemic is receding, It is the holistic development of Srinagar constituency in general and Ganderbal in particular, which is on my to-do-list,” he added.