‘Safeguarding special status in interest of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh’
National Conference working president Omar Abdullah today said that defending Article 35A, which was an integral part of the Constitution, shouldn’t be considered as anti-national.
Coming down heavily on the BJP while addressing party workers at Darhal in Rajouri district, Omar asked why was the NC being blamed for opposing the “clandestine moves of the saffron party” to repeal Article 35A, which was a constitutional guarantee for the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to preserve their distinct identity and dignity, irrespective of religion or caste.
He accused the BJP of dividing people on regional and religious lines to further its “anti-people” agenda.
Omar reassured people of the state that as long as the NC flag was fluttering high across J&K Article 35A would remain part of the Constitution of India.
“Article 35A reflects our identity; it allows us to shape our destiny and we cannot therefore let it go,” he declared amid a huge applause and asked people to close ranks for defending it, come what may.
He cautioned people against remaining complacent on the sensitive issue, especially as “the BJP was working on a planned strategy drawn as back as the conception of the PDP in 2000”. “The pen and inkpot party had been conceived to further the agenda of the RSS and BJP in this state,” he claimed.
Elaborating on his allegations, Omar said the PDP had fiercely campaigned against the BJP in the 2014 Assembly and parliamentary elections while claiming that it was the only party that could stop the Modi juggernaut in Jammu and Kashmir. But when the fractured results became public, the PDP aligned with the BJP and formed the government, he added.
“By facilitating the BJP to make inroads into Jammu and Kashmir and helping it realise its dream of joining the government, the PDP had betrayed the trust of people,” Omar said, adding that if the PDP was allowed to make compromises, one after another, the day was not far when the BJP would not even need its support to rule the state.
Therefore, he said, safeguarding Article 35A was the foremost responsibility of all, as it was in the larger interests of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
