Centre fooling people by ignoring real issues, fighting for Ram: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference (NC) chairman Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said that the Central government is allegedly fooling the people of the country by ignoring real issues of farmers, unemployment, and Dalits, and is fighting for the Ram temple.

Speaking at an event here, Abdullah said, "Today, India is not fighting for the matters that matter to India, farmers, unemployed, the downtrodden, Dalits. They (the government) are fighting for Ram! They are fooling the people, and are destroying Kashmir."

"The intentions of Delhi were not a plebiscite, but to occupy the territory slowly. So they got puppets. They thought this movement will die. So how would they divide? By saying that Jammu is deprived, Ladakh is deprived and Kashmir has taken everything. Get Jammu and Ladakh together and to this day, the propaganda continues," the former J-K chief minister said.

The NC chief further stated that the core problem for the issues between Kashmir and the rest of India was the fact that there was a lack of trust.

"You think Kashmiri Muslim is a Pakistani. Why the hell are you pushing us into Pakistan? When you beat a Muslim in a university just because he is a Muslim from Kashmir, what do you think that I as a Muslim from Kashmir must be feeling? Have I made the right choice to be part of India? Is this Gandhi's India or Nehru's India? This is what is playing on our minds," Abdullah said.

"The day we find our differences, we find a solution. As long as we keep on different wavelengths, we will never find a solution. And don't boycott political processes, as these are the base of democracy. With great difficulty, we boycotted the municipal elections because the Centre was not clear on Article 35A. They eroded Article 370. It is only a skeleton now, only a namesake. It has completely been eroded," Abdullah said.