J&K coalition is anti-BJP, not anti-national: Farooq Abdullah

A grouping of six political events in Jammu and Kashmir selected National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah as its chairperson and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti his deputy, giving form to an alliance that they’ve fashioned to demand the restoration of the erstwhile state’s particular standing.

The choices had been taken at a gathering held on the Fairview residence of Mufti on the posh Gupkar Road in Srinagar. Leaders of all six events — NC, PDP, Peoples Conference (PC), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Peoples Movement (PM) and Awami National Conference (ANC) — had been current on the assembly. The flag of the erstwhile state was adopted because the flag of the alliance.

Abdullah mentioned the grouping, christened People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, or PAGD, was not an anti-national alliance however was undoubtedly anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“I want to tell you that it’s a false propaganda by the BJP that the PAGD is anti-national. There is no doubt that it is anti-BJP, but it is not anti-national,” he mentioned.

Abdullah, 84,the Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, mentioned their struggle was not spiritual in nature and that it was for his or her “rights and identity”. “They (the BJP) have tried to destroy the Constitution and divide the country. We have seen what they did to the Constitution of India on August 5 last year…our objective is to fight for the rights of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. We will fight for the regional autonomy of Jammu and Ladakh regions as well.”

On August 5, 2019, the central authorities nullified Article 370, which accorded particular standing to the state of J&Ok, and bifurcated it into two Union territories – J&Ok with a legislative meeting and Ladakh with out one — triggering widespread protests and a political firestorm.

Several political leaders and activists together with three former chief ministers — Mufti, Abdullah and his son, Omar Abdullah — had been detained as a safety measure to keep up regulation and order. The Abdullahs had been launched in March, and Mufti was freed within the second week of October.

Since then, the leaders, as soon as fierce opponents, have come collectively — backed by 4 different events — to forge the alliance that goals to work for the restoration of the area’s particular standing. The grouping’s first assembly was held on the Gupkar residence of Abdullah on October 15.

At Saturday’s assembly, PC chairperson Sajjad Lone was nominated because the spokesperson of the alliance. CPI-M common secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami can be its convener and Anantnag parliamentarian Hasnain Masoodi of the NCits coordinator. Members of the alliance mentioned they may give you a white paper inside a month to show the “lies” unfold concerning the individuals of J&Ok.

“…it (the white paper) will be placed before the people and the country to expose lies and misunderstandings; it will expose the reality about J&K with statistics. The document will be a tribute to the people,” Lone mentioned.

The subsequent gathering of the alliance can be held in Jammu inside two weeks and its first conference in Srinagar in November, he added.

BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur mentioned the grouping is not going to succeed. “These people have ruled J&K for 70 years. Now when they are out of power, the families have again come together to grab power. This is a VVIP alliance of powerful people that will not work.”

Noor Baba, a political analyst and the previous head of the political science division on the Kashmir University, nonetheless, mentioned leaders of the brand new alliance had been a recognised and a major voice. “The government of India cannot dub them separatists. They cannot be dubbed Pakistanis because their credentials are established as authentic Indians in Kashmir who believe in a certain idea of India — which is secular and allows certain safeguards in relation to the state of Jammu and Kashmir…Their voice is significant if they stand by what they have committed,” he mentioned.