Former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today held his successor Mufti Mohammad Sayeed responsible for "hate attacks" in the state, claiming that the latter had "bartered everything" to save his chair.
"Our Chief Minister (Sayeed) has bartered everything to save his chair. The Chief Minister is directly responsible for the attacks which have taken place in Rajouri, Udhampur or elsewhere in the state," Omar told reporters after paying tributes to his grandfather and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on his 110th birth anniversary.
Omar, the working president of National Conference, was reacting to questions about the increase in attacks on Muslim transporters in Rajouri and other areas of Jammu region.
The former chief minister maintained he had extended support to PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for forming the government in the wake of the hung assembly to keep such elements out of the state.
"When the election results were declared, National Conference extended a hand of friendship towards Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed with the intention of keeping such forces out of the state who only want to set the state on fire.
"We had an apprehension that allowing the BJP and particularly the RSS into the state would be fraught with dangers. Unfortunately, our apprehensions have been proved correct in the nine months (of PDP-BJP government)," he said.
Omar said while large scale arrests were being made in Kashmir, "these people (RSS) are holding armed rallies in Jammu and no one says anything".
On being asked about the denial of the state government to confer 'Sher-e-Kashmir' title on National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the leader said that the party founder was not only the tallest leader of the state but was revered in the entire country.
The state government, in response to an RTI query, had said it had no record available to say who was 'Sher-e-Kashmir in the state of Jammu and Kashmir'.
Omar, however, noted that, "He (Sheikh) left an indelible impression by his political role and more than that the economic contribution he made to the state by virtue of Land to Tiller (Act) and loan waiver.
"No one can have differences with the economic contribution of Sheikh Sahab even though they may differ with his politics. Jammu and Kashmir today has the least poverty and it is only because of these two steps taken by him," he said.
The Sher-e-Kashmir title has been used for the National Conference founder, with many universities, bridges, conference halls, police training institutes and several other public buildings and welfare schemes being run under this title.
"Those working under duress or fear cannot serve the
people, nor can they protect their political interests... A Chief Minister perpetually suspicious of her colleagues and apprehensive about a coup within the party cannot do justice with the institution of the Chief Minister's Office," Omar said.
The former chief minister described the ten-month rule of the PDP-BJP alliance as a complete and total failure on all fronts, saying this was even publicly admitted by Mehbooba Mufti when she expressed dismay over the implementation of the 'Agenda of the Alliance'.
He appreciated the "honest admission" of Mehbooba and said had the first spell of the present coalition succeeded in achieving a single noteworthy milestone on governance or developmental fronts, he would have been the first one to congratulate them.
"The previous PDP-BJP Government failed to take up a single new project for implementation and even those projects that were initiated during National Conference-Congress led government were put to back burner," the NC leader said. He particularly made a reference to Kishtwar power project, which had been conceived with the larger aim of steering Jammu and Kashmir to self-reliance in power sector and said due to lack of vision of the PDP-BJP coalition the executing agency was forced to pack up and leave.
Elaborating on the "failures" of PDP-BJP Government during its ten-month tenure, he said from villages to towns and towns to cities and the state as a whole didn't witness any sort of development.
He said the people were subjected to misgovernance and their miseries continued to get accumulated without anyone paying heed.
On the contrary, Omar said the three months of Governor's Rule witnessed wheels of the Government moving.
"Not only the held-up decisions were taken and implemented, the Governor took effective measures in disbursing flood relief, dismissing absentee doctors, regularising daily wagers and streamlining various services, among other things," Omar said.
The former Chief Minister also assailed the implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), saying this Act is not in the interests of the poor people of the State.
He said the decision has boomeranged as people have taken to streets. He said his government had decided against implementation as it knew its fall-out and the fact that it would lead to the deprivation of much needed food grains to a large segment of our population.
The Working President of National Conference cautioned the people against divisive policies of the present dispensation and said his party will not allow these machinations to succeed.
"To save the people from these divisive forces, strengthening of National Conference is imperative", he said and exhorted the cadre to further intensify mass contact drives across the State in order to reach out the people in every nook and corner.
He said a strong National Conference is the only answer to all threats and challenges faced by the State.
