Jammu, Jan 08: Jammu & Kashmir National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah on Monday said it was JKNC that played a crucial role in revitalizing the democratic process in Jammu & Kashmir after the tumultuous 1990s.
He said that in the 1996 elections, when few were willing to participate, JKNC took the bold step of entering the political arena to safeguard the people of Jammu and Kashmir from the challenging times.
Addressing a one-day party convention in Nagrota here, the NC chief said, “Even after 1990, Jammu and Kashmir’s entire structure was destroyed during the turbulent period, there was no such thing as democracy and work culture, most of the bridges, government buildings, schools and other educational institutions were destroyed and people were living under the shadow of fear.”
“We not only improved the environment gradually but also built thousands of schools, colleges, bridges and roads and provided more than 150,000 government jobs in 6 years,” he said, adding, “We introduced schemes like Rehber-e-Taleem, Rehber-e-Ziraat and on-the-spot DG Recruitment for people living in remote areas and brought the troubled state system back on track.”
Dr Farooq said those who keep on repeating peace and development here today are trying to mislead people with mere words. “The amount of welfare work that the National Conference has done for the development of Jammu and Kashmir and the people cannot be replicated,” he said.
Criticizing those spreading “misinformed propaganda” about Article 370, the former J&K chief minister said, “Thanks to this article, the people here got ownership rights on lands and benefits like free education. Article 370 was the legacy of Maharaja Hari Singh, which was undemocratically, unconstitutionally and unilaterally taken away. The people of Jammu, unfortunately, have to bear the brunt of the abrogation of Article 370.”
