Kargil: National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Monday said Mehbooba Mufti should accept her failure to govern and her inability to handle the “deteriorating situation” in the State and step down from her chair.
Addressing a public meeting at Kargil Monday, the former Chief Minister said youth across the State feel betrayed and were being pushed against the wall as the ruling alliance had “robbed them of hope while being solely obsessed with the goal of remaining glued to power.”
“As civilian killings, instability and violence seem to have become the norm in the State, the time has come for Mehbooba Mufti to accept her failure and the grave costs of PDP’s sell-out. She should step down as the Chief Minister before the situation deteriorates any further.”
The Government seems to be a mute spectator as the State was sliding back into what appears to be another period of armed turmoil and instability. “It is not enough that the Chief Minister regrets unabated civilian killings in the Valley while she continues to augment the sense of hostility and alienation among the youth. She cannot offer a solution as long as she continues to be the basis of what is happening in the State today,” he said.
Omar said the youth of the State were at the receiving end of flawed, dangerous policies that hinged on a day-to-day operational management of the situation in the complete absence of constructive, engaging politics. “There is an elephant in the room and PDP doesn’t want to see it. It has shut its eyes to reality and continues to fuel the sense of resentment on the ground. Every single justification conjured up to stitch up this alliance has fallen flat as one promise after another stands exposed as hollow and farcical. The same young men who were promised political engagement, reconciliation and empathy stand at the precipice of complete and total isolation. PDP’s U-turn in 2014 has cost the State hundreds of precious young lives and the most tragic part is how the Chief Minister continues to be a mode of denial”, he said.
“Every region of the State, including Kargil, Ladakh and Jammu, has seen the adverse ramifications of the divisive, Machiavellian politics that the PDP-BJP Alliance seems to have made a cornerstone of its existence. People have been pitted against one another on the basis of region and religion to facilitate political dividends for the powers that be. The political vacuum in Kashmir is unprecedented and shocking. The Government isn’t even pretending to engage with the youth and all promises of dialogue and reconciliation have turned out to be grand, elaborate lies. If educated, employed young men are leaving the mainstream – the powers that be need to introspect and accept their predominant and prominent role in bringing things to this pass. Mere rhetoric and customary condemnations from the Chief Minister are futile and end up adding insult to injury”, Omar said.
He said Kargil was a classic example of the Chief Minister’s inability to govern and had suffered enormously on account of rank misgovernance in the last three years. “Almost every single developmental work initiated by the previous Government has been abandoned by the PDP-BJP Government. No infrastructure projects have been initiated in Kargil since the past three years as political opportunism has taken precedence over honest, dedicated leadership. The people of Kargil have been betrayed and are being robbed of their rights to growth, progress and prosperity as the Government turns a blind eye towards pressing challenges being faced by people here. National Conference has always and will continue to be responsive and sensitive to the grievances and demands of the people and believes equitable growth and development of all the three regions of the State is non-negotiable”, he said.
