NC lacks courage to fight for Kashmir’s lost rights: Mehbooba

Srinagar, Dec 14: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti in a scathing attack against the ruling National Conference (NC) on Saturday accused the party of lacking courage to pursue Kashmir’s cause before the Union Dispensation and taken back the snatched rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba during a press interaction in Srinagar after chairing a crucial party meeting said that despite having 50 members at the legislative assembly and three members of parliament, NC is doing least in what she termed “restoration of lost rights” of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“I don’t know what commitments they [NC] were given in this regard. Commitments were made even back then when Farooq Sahib, Omar Sahib, and Hasnain Masoodi Sahib met with the Prime Minister in August 2019, a day before the abrogation of Article 370. They were assured that nothing would be done to alter it. Omar Sahib and Farooq Sahib told people that the Prime Minister had assured them that Article 370 would remain intact. However, the way Article 370 was abrogated afterward exposed the hollowness of those assurances.”
Mehbooba accused the NC of lacking the courage to fight for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s rights. “Even today, with 50 seats and three Members of Parliament, they lack the courage to take back the snatched rights of the people. What can I do? We only had 16 seats when the BJP was in power in Delhi, but we still followed our own agenda. Later, when we had 28 seats, we continued to push our agenda, even in alliance with the BJP. Today, despite having 50 seats, what have they [NC] done?” she asked.
On the much hyped ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal, Mehbooba expressed strong disapproval, stating that the NDA government is “systematically eroding the Constitution of India.” “This Constitution makes India a federal country with a federal structure. But when you talk about ‘One Nation, One Election,’ you are undermining this federal structure. They claim they are looking toward 2047, but instead, they are regressing to the time when the country first gained independence, when ‘One Nation, One Election’ was practiced. Since then, power has been gradually distributed across regions, creating a federal structure. Now they want to take us back to that era of dictatorship, which I believe is entirely wrong.”
Furthermore, the PDP President urged the Union Government to prioritize these in the upcoming budget. “If we talk about expectations from the Union Budget, its primary focus regarding Jammu and Kashmir should be on addressing unemployment. This should be the first priority. Secondly, the power supply issues here need to be resolved and improved because these are major issues at the moment. Attention should also be given to healthcare, education, and electricity,” she said.