NC eroded basic political, financial autonomy of JK: Tak
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday hit out at the National Conference (NC) for shedding crocodile tears in the name of erosion of Special Status of Jammu and Kashmir, saying “it was the NC which is responsible for systematic and basic erosion of the state since 1956”.
Senior PDP leader and MLC Firdous Tak said that National Conference and its leadership was trying to create confusion among the masses by resorting to hollow rhetoric primary focusing on creating unrest in the state.
Reacting sharply to the statement of former Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather the PDP legislator said those who are primary responsible for the erosion of political and financial autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir are today projecting themselves as `saviors of Kashmir’.
“We don’t need a lesson on autonomy and Article 370 from the very NC leadership, which had been responsible for basic erosion of special status of J&K enshrined under Article 370 from 1956 to till date”, he said.
“The NC has been shedding crocodile tears to save itself treachery and deceit it committed with the people of Jammu and Kashmir during the past six decades. Whether it was 1975 Sheikh-Indra or 1986 Farooq-Rajiv Gandhi accord, the NC not only fiddled with the political and financial autonomy of the State but also trampled the unique identity of Jammu and Kashmir. The history is testimony to it,” the PDP leader said adding that the present dispensation is not committed to safeguard the special status of the state just because the opposition is insisting for it but “because the special status is an article of faith for us”.
He also complemented BJP and union finance minister saying, “Despite political differences and diverse opinions the union government has categorically stated that it will uphold the special status of Jammu and Kashmir while implementing GST in the state”. The commitment, he said, is itself historic in nature.
Reminding the NC leadership of its wrongdoings while fiddling with the state’s financial autonomy, the MLC said that the previous National Conference-led government, in which Abdul Rahim Rather was the Finance Minister, had compromised the state’s autonomy by shifting overdraft facility from J&K Bank to the Reserve Bank of India.
He said the handing over the “ways and means” of the J&K Bank to RBI by the then NC government was a major setback to the institution of autonomy of the state.
“The present dispensation headed by the PDP has been paying for the deceitfulness of the previous NC governments, which always attempted to erode the political and financial autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir,” Tak said, adding “The PDP joined the hands of BJP, despite ideological differences, to safeguard and protect the interests of the people of the state.”
The PDP leader said, “The PDP-led government has provided a historic opportunity to the state where all the contentious issues are discussed in the state legislature and are duly passed after hectic discussions. “It was PDP which restored the faith of people on democracy. Again today it is PDP led government which is restoring the supremacy of the legislator by bringing all the important issues before the elected representatives instead of the backdoor channels as was being done during successive NC regimes”.
However, the NC did completely in contrast to it. It never intended to discuss or pass any piece of legislation through state legislature”.
Tak exhorted the people to stand unite and guard against sinister designs being perpetrated by forces inimical to the uniqueness of the state.
KV Correspondent
