Jammu: National Conference president Dr Frooq Abdullah on Sunday said that Jammu and Kashmir relation with India will get “weakened” with any attempts of deviation from path of secularism.
“In 1947 we refused to accede to Muslim Pakistan and chose to be part of secular India and any attempt of deviating from the chosen path of secularism the relationship of the state will get weakened with Indian domain,” Farooq was quoted as having saying in his address to the senior functionaries, former ministers and legislators besides District Presidents and Secretaries of the Jammu Province at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here.
“In fact, the communal polarization is a serious threat to unity of the nation,” said Farooq, the former three time chief minister of the state.
Terming the upcoming Panchayat polls as crucial for strengthening democracy at grass-roots level in Jammu and Kashmir, he exhorted the cadre to gear up for the big challenge and ensure election of public spirited and honest representatives to the basic democratic institutions.
“Notwithstanding the spirit of Panchayati Raj System having been trampled by the PDP-BJP dispensation by amending the Panchayat Raj Act 1989, National Conference believes Panchayats as engine of political empowerment of the people at large and development of rural areas as per local aspirations,” he said.
He said the ensuing elections will give new dimension to political discourse in the State with politically sagacious people signaling a change to undo the wrongs committed by the present coalition government.
He referred to the amendment in the Panchayati Raj Act 1989 mainly to have indirect election of Sarpanchs and said this will weaken the system and give rise to manipulations. He said Jammu and Kashmir had an indigenous Panchati Raj System that empowered people to actively participate in the process of planning, executing and monitoring of development at village levels.
He dwelt upon the backdrop of the Act and said this was drafted after studying various models of the Panchayati Raj in various states of the country. “Ultimately we came up with a legislation that was acclaimed at the national level”, he said, adding that a team of senior officials from the Centre had acknowledged this during their visit to Srinagar.
“We will restore back the spirit of the Panchayat Raj Act, as per urges and aspirations of the people, once we come with a clear mandate and undo the wrong with two-thirds majority”, Dr Abdullah said amid huge applause.
He asked the cadre to further intensify their mass contact, fan out in their areas and seek massive participation of voters in the upcoming democratic exercise. He hoped that the people will identity honest and well meaning representative who will be instrumental in changing the rural landscape. “Women must come forward hugely and benefit from the 33 per cent reservation in Panchayats”, he added.
While seeking the mass participation in Panchayat elections, the NC President cautioned against machinations of divisive forces, who may try to vitiate the atmosphere by engineering communal divide. “They are reading writing on the wall and in a fit of desperation, they may touch the lowest depths to create wedge between various segments of the society”, he said and referred to the hysteria created over religion being under threat.
“There is no threat to any religion and if there is danger to anything at all, is the politics of hate, which has been serving as a shield to communal elements”, he said the politics of, mistrust and suspicion will take toll of the nation. Ironically, those posing as hyper-nationalists are celebrating the killers, even the murderer of Father of the Nation Mahatama Gandhi, in whose memory a temple is being raised in Gwallior, he added.
“What sort of the message they are conveying to the nation, which is a beautiful vase of different flowers”, he said and warned that the attempts of communal polarization will weaken the fabric of Indian nation. He asked the believers of hate-politics to keep off from Jammu and Kashmir that is a shining example of amity and communal harmony.
During the meeting, senior state and provincial level and district functionaries, former ministers, former and sitting legislators spoke on the occasion and gave an overview of the political scenario and preparations being made for the Panchayati elections. Mostly the speakers expressed concern over clandestine delimitation of Panchayts, saying composition of wards is being manipulated to suit the political interests of the coalition partners. They, however, exuded confidence that the manipulations won’t deter the people to choose right people for Panchayats, which will be a befitting reply to the ruling dispensation.
On the occasion, Dr Farooq Abdullah released the latest edition of “Aatsh-e-Chinar”, autobiography of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah.
