Alleging that 1975 Indira-Sheikh accord was biggest surrender of state’s special status, chairman of Peoples Conference (PC) Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday said Omar Abdullah and his family are ambassadors of Delhi in Kashmir.
The Abdullah family represents Delhi’s interests rather than the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Sajad said in a statement here this afternoon.
Mr Sajad emphasised that while the representation of Delhi in Jammu and Kashmir was never a problem for the Abdullahs, the same cannot be said when it comes to representing Kashmir and its issues in Delhi.
“They have always been the ambassadors of Delhi in Kashmir but were never the ambassadors of Kashmir in Delhi,” said Mr Sajad, who was a minister in the coalition PDP-BJP government from the quota of saffron party.
Revisiting the Sheikh-Indira accord of 1975, Mr Sajad termed it “most notorious” act in the erosion of state’s special status.
“The 1975 accord was the most notorious in the history of Kashmir wherein the Abdullah family conveniently traded the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in lieu of power. The infamous trade off between power and erosions, when Sheikh Abdullah was demoted from the position of Prime Minister to that of Chief Minister, without even contesting the elections was the most questionable act performed by any political party in the history of the the state”, he said.
He said the very act of him taking the position of a Chief Minister was the first and biggest ratification of the special status and proves how the Abdullah family has been the ambassador of Delhi in the state from the very inception.
Reiterating how National Conference (NC) and Congress governments in the past have eroded the special status of Jammu and Kashmir to a point that it barely remains.
“All alliances of NC with Congress further ratified and endorsed the erosions of J&K’s special status that was co-scripted by the two parties,” he added.
Strongly opposing dynasty politics, Mr Sajad further said that NC is a classic example of how power when passed on as inheritance, is misused to the benefit of a dynasty rather than the welfare of its people, who end up developing a trust deficit in the government.
“These immature, juvenile tantrums are iconic in how Omar Abdullah was given power as an inheritance as opposed to a privileged trust bestowed by the people. He is cranky because an alternative has emerged and emerged from the grassroots. His idea of democracy is a musical chairs game solely between him and Mehbooba Mufti – an either/or scenario which both parties are comfortable with. He should wake up and realize his family, sooner than later, will be held accountable for its mass loot, plunder and the killings it lorded over in Kashmir,” Mr Sajad said. (UNI)
