Srinagar March 29: National Conference (NC) General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar Tuesday exhorted party functionaries to work in tandem towards making party stronger at grassroots level in order to take on the imminent challenges to the people of J&K.
He said this while addressing a meeting of delegates of Khanyar constituency here at the party headquarters Nawa e Subha. Provincial VP Syed Tauqeer, YNC Provincial President Kashmir Salman Ali Sagar, Block President Bashir Ahmed Wani, Block Secretary Mehrajdin, YNC Block President Abid Wani were also present on the occasion.
Denouncing the one sided narrative peddled by the movie ‘Kashmir Files’, Sagar said, “When there was violence in India and Pakistan, Gandhiji came here and said that he sees light in Kashmir, as everyone one was living in harmony,” adding, “The indomitable role played by NC workers Maqbool Sherwani of Baramulla, Master Abdul Aziz of Muzaffarabad and Pushkar Nath Zadu of Srinagar is worth a mention. The fact is that many lies have been projected in the film and the biggest one is that it has been wrongly shown that there was an NC government. It wasn’t. Whenever in power or for that matter outside power also, we in our party have lent immense importance to protecting our secular visage. It is one of the founding principles of our party.”
He said the delimitation exercise preempts the court verdict and should have been kept on hold. “As the parent law of the JK state Reorganisation Act 2019 is yet to get the judicial validation from the constitutional bench, the government should have waited and put all the exercise on hold. But it didn’t. It chose to go by its wish list and grant its final award without considering geography, topography and universal rule of population,” he added.
“Our workers are there, our party base is intact. There is nothing to worry about. We draw our power from our people. As long as our people are with us, no power on earth can wish us off. Our block, halqa, district and province level workers are teaming with energy, vigour, vitality, enthusiasm to take on any challenges. The need of the hour is to keep strengthening our rows. Our unity frets our enemies,” he added.
Exporting the party functionaries, Sagar said that NC has long been recognised with the wishes and aspirations of the people. “Party’s achievements in terms of empowering people, laying the foundations of democracy, watering of secular ideals, and ushering in a balanced and well-nuanced development in all the regions of Jammu and Kashmir is embedded in the collective memory of our people. It was NC that transformed the fate of people from that of abject poverty to that of opulence. Our leadership perpetuated the idea that people are the real source of power and the elected representatives are meant to serve the people,” he said.
The efforts of successive NC-led governments under the leadership of Sher e Kashmir, Dr Farooq Sahib, and Omar Sahib in achieving social cohesion, equity and equality gave massive developmental dividends to people in all sectors, Sagar said adding, “Our distinctive secular and socialist ideology gave clarity to our vision of development, clarity serving people with an inclusive governance approach.”