Srinagar, Dec 7: National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah Thursday reiterated the party’s resolve to fight for the restoration of J&K’s abridged democratic rights.
A statement of NC issued here said that addressing a party workers convention in Tral, Omar said that he was fighting for the people of J&K and was not aiming for any chair.
“I have been the chief minister of J&K for six years. It is not something which I aspire to become. I am fighting for a larger cause, it’s the restoration of our dignity, protection of our unique & historical identity and our abridged democratic rights. Violence has never been our forte, we will continue to fight democratically, constitutionally, legally, and peacefully. We won’t go back on our promises, we will continue with our struggle,” he said.
Omar said that NC’s series of successful conventions has irked it’s political opponents whose political rallies fail to get traction.
“Everyone is training guns on NC, be it a leader who had pinned his hopes on us for becoming Chief Minister or the ones who were either once part of PAGD or are still part of the formation. The groundswell of support for us seems to cause a lot of heartburn for these people,” he said.
Questioning the development claims of the BJP on the revocation of Article 370, Omar said, “Where is the promised development, job extravaganza and progress. Where is the investment? I didn’t see any new hospital, college, industry coming up in Kashmir? What happened to those promises? When will they materialise?”
He said far from delivering on their claims, the ruling BJP government had plunged people of J&K into an abyss of hopelessness.
“Our Gujjar brothers are being denied rights over forests. Shortage of basic utility services and administrative deficit is taking a toll on us. People have no idea about where to go to redress their woes,” he
said.
Senior NC leaders Ali Muhammad Sagar, Shammi Oberoi, Nasir Aslam Wani, and Tanvir Sadiq were also present on the occasion.