Pulwama, Sept 13: National Conference (NC) president, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Friday rejected divisive politics, saying that it separates the people of the country along religious lines.
Addressing the party’s supporters in the Keller area of Shopian Constituency, Abdullah said that Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of India ensures equal rights for all citizens, regardless of their religion.
“We want to build Mahatma Gandhi’s India, where people don’t face discrimination in the name of religion,” he said, urging all citizens to contribute to building an India that guarantees equality for all.
“The idea of India will not work if we don’t take everyone along. We must include even those who oppose us to ensure the country’s progress,” he said, adding that this can be achieved through unification, not disintegration.
The former chief minister said they seek an India where no one faces discrimination based on faith and where people don’t face demolition of their homes.
Dr Farooq said the NC was originally launched in 1931 as the Muslim Conference but was renamed the National Conference in 1938 to represent people from Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Buddhist communities. He promised to rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits and other displaced communities.
“We will bring back all our migrant brothers, whether from the Pandit or Muslim communities and prove to them that we have immense love for them,” he said, adding that this love would persist despite attempts to create divisions between communities.
The NC chief criticised the government for its failure to rehabilitate any migrant families in the past ten years. “I want to ask those who criticise us: how many migrant families have they rehabilitated in the last ten years when they were in power?” he questioned.
