Slamming the Congress for its silence over the issue, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said his party will single-handedly continue its fight for the restoration of Article 370, if the grand old party was not ready to fight this battle.
“J&K’s future is linked to the special status guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said, adding that the case for restoration of Article 370 is very strong. The former Chief Minister accused the BJP of “murdering democracy” in the Union Territory, after abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, by rendering institutions, including newspapers, feeble and said it has rendered “hollow” India’s slogan of being the biggest democracy in the world.
“Our case (for restoration of Article 370 before the Supreme Court) is very strong… We expected support from Opposition parties, but they are silent. Our existence is linked to this Article,” said Abdullah, who is currently on a tour of the Chenab valley region, while addressing a public meeting at Kishtwar town.
Referring to reported remarks of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad that it was meaningless to speak about Article 370, Abdullah said, “I’m disappointed by his statement as he is a senior leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“If Article 370 is our heritage, more than ours it is also your party’s legacy. It was first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru of the Congress who brought Article 370 and today Congressmen are not willing to safeguard their legacy. So, how can one expect it to save the people,” he said.
The NC leader said the Congressmen have taken the decision to the court which is yet to start hearing the petitions filed before it against the abrogation of Article 370. “If they are not ready to fight this battle, no issue, we will single-handedly take it to its logical conclusion. We will fight because this fight is linked to the future of the people of J&K, its jobs and land which is the first priority of the locals,” he said, adding that their fight is based on justice and for restoration of the honour and dignity which was snatched from them unconstitutionally.
The former Chief Minister said he is not comfortable with the word Union Territory and alleged that the people were told lies and misled by false promises and slogans when the erstwhile state was downgraded. “We were told that Article 370 was an obstacle for industrialization, generation of employment opportunities for our youth and the main reason for poverty, and its removal would pave the way for development and new projects… It stands exposed today,” he said and questioned the claims that Article 370 was hollow, asking: “then what was the need for its abrogation?”
Accusing BJP of murdering democracy in Jammu and Kashmir on a “daily basis”, he said media persons are being pressurised and not allowed to write the truth in the valley. “If they write something, they are called to police stations and booked immediately. If the government gets angry, they stop advertisements in newspapers.”
He said newspapers are even being forced to remove old articles from archives so that a “new history” is written. He said attempts are being made to break the NC, which is not ready to compromise, paddle falsehood, betray people, raise false slogans and do politics on the basis of religion and region.
“Conspiracies were being hatched against the party since its inception but they witnessed a spurt after August 2019. The party leadership was detained on immaterial charges for months and their only aim was to break the NC,” Abdullah said, adding these attempts are still continuing.