Restore democracy by holding elections in J&K: Kamal

Dictatorial LG’s Admin failed to win hearts of people: Rattan Lal

KATHUA, May 20th : Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal, Additional General Secretary National Conference on Saturday asked the government to restore democracy in J&K by holding Assembly elections.

He was speaking at the party workers meeting in Kathua which was organized by Shakeel Ahmed (Tony) NC Block President. The meeting was presided over by Ajeet Kumar District President JKNC Kathua. Rattan Lal Gupta, Provincial President JKNC Jammu was the Guest of Honour. 

Chief Guest of the occasion,  Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal said that the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir is abysmal as people are feeling suffocated due to absence of popular government and moves taken by the ‘authoritative’ regime with people finding nowhere to go to resolve their issues. He said that only an election to elect the Assembly can restore the faith of the people in the government because the bureaucratic rulers are non-considerate and taking decisions only to please their bosses sitting at Delhi giving two hoots to the problems being faced by the common man.  

The senior NC leader said that the last nine years rule shall be written in the annals of history as the darkest era experienced by the people in J&K. He said that  Governor’s rule can be imposed only for six months or at the most one year but under the present regime at the Centre, there is no limit to arbitrariness as it seems the LG’s rule will continue indefinitely.

Rattan Lal Gupta, in his address, said that dictatorial LG’s Administration has miserably failed to win hearts of people of the state. He said the present government has failed to provide basic amenities and people of state are decry for regular power and water supply but the officers sitting at the helm of affairs are least bothered about the hardships faced by common masses.

He asserted that neglect of Ravi Tawi Project is the evidence of phlegmatic attitude of government towards the people Kathua and Samba Districts as farmers are the worst affected due to delay in completion of this prestigious project. 

The Provincial President said that the government is allowing the mining mafia to arbitrarily extract minor minerals flouting rules and norms in Kathua district affecting the environment badly, which is unacceptable.

Babu Rampal, former minister and Central Zone President  asked party workers to gear up the cadre at grass-roots level for the upcoming Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies elections. He said that ground level workers can play the active role in changing the course of ULB polls therefore it is significant that NC cadre should mobilize the grass-root level workers to ensure resounding victory in the upcoming polls.

Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Provincial Secretary Jammu JKNC said that only National Conference can address people’s problems for which the party cadre will have to further strengthen the base of party at grass roots level.

Vijay Lochan Provincial President SC Cell  and Abdul Ghani Tel Provincial President OBC Cell, senior NC leaders accused the J&K Administration of adopting a negative attitude towards the deprived section of society, saying that this is evident from the fact that the Govt is not showing the least concern to addressing the pressing issues of this section of the society. They said that the government has dejectedly unsuccessful in protecting the rights of SC, ST and OBC communities in Jammu and Kashmir.

They appealed to the SC and OBC community members to further strengthen the hands of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah as NC alone is the solution to their problems.

Those who were present in the meeting included:  Sham Lal Mehra, Farooq Mughal, K.K Bakhshi, Subash Chander Azad,  Harshvardhan Singh, Dr. Vikas Sharma,Pardeep Kesar, Mohinder Singh, Ditta Baba Mahajan, S. Harjeet Singh, Kouser Parveen, Janak Raj, Yashpal, Raj Kumar, Ch. Bania, and other party functionaries of Districts/ Blocks.

(NOTE: PRESS RELEASE PUBLISHED AS RECEIVED)