Delhi reinventing mission to further erode Autonomy: Farooq

SRINAGAR: National Conference President Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said there were clear indications that a long-existing lobby in New Delhi was reinventing its mission to erode what remains of the State’s internal autonomy. 
Addressing a day-long lawyers’ conclave organized by the party’s legal cell at NC Headquarters in Srinagar on Saturday, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said Mehbooba Mufti and her colleagues should draw lessons from history and fear the reprisals of political connivance with forces inimical to the interests of the State. 
“I have personally witnessed how a long-existing lobby in New Delhi has used pliant leaders and regimes in the State to erode Article 370 and rob the State of its constitutionally guaranteed Internal Autonomy – one step at a time. This is a chronicle of betrayals and breach of faith that started with the deposition and incarceration of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and continues to this day. At every juncture in our history, this lobby in New Delhi has used pliant leaders and co-opting regimes in the State to inflict irrevocable damage on Article 370. Today we see the efforts of this lobby manifest in the form of the extension of NFSA and NEET to the State while the PDP-BJP Government is peddling an ‘Industrial Policy’ which is glaringly conspicuous in its ambiguity on the question of non-State-subject investors and promoters. What others did between 1953 and 1975, PDP is following suit and re-enacting the same master-servant opportunistic relationship that has wreaked havoc with our State”, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said while addressing prominent lawyers from across the Valley. 
Dr. Farooq recollected various intrigues unleashed on the State at various junctures in history through various local pliant politicians and said those who had connived against the State and its people had witnessed rejection, resentment and humiliation instead of a political legacy long after they had left this world. “Mehbooba Mufti should draw lessons from history and see how the people have first disowned and then completely forgotten those pliant leaders who connived against the State’s political rights to remain in power. This tragic silence by those in power on recurring efforts to discredit and disarm the State’s institutions by openly trespassing even into categories those clearly fall in the State List  can spell doom for the State. This is not just about NFSA, NEET or the Industrial Policy. There is a larger, more sinister plan to destroy Article 370 by rendering it irrelevant and the legal fraternity is duty-bound to remain vigilant and fight against this subversion of our political rights and honour”, the National Conference President added. 
“I clearly remember how New Delhi impulsively rejected the Autonomy resolution that we passed in the Legislative Assembly without even bothering to review and analyze its constitutional validity and feasibility. It was at this juncture in history that New Delhi felt the need to prop up another regional party in the State to sabotage our demand for the restoration of Internal Autonomy. Today that regional party is dutifully helping New Delhi in the extension of central laws and examinations to the State without a word of opposition or disagreement. They are repaying New Delhi’s political investment in them since the past two decades and we cannot afford to not remain vigilant about these internal foes and Trojan Horses”, Dr. Farooq stated. 
The NC President said Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah rendered great sacrifices to fight for the rights and honour of his people and those who are trying to portray historical facts out of context by speaking about Sheikh Sahib today don’t have the slightest of idea about our history. “My father never compromised with the State’s honour and dignity. The fact that he spent more than two decades of his youth in prison cells attests to this fact. He never allowed the dilution or erosion of the State’s sub-national political identity and New Delhi did this through pliant, puppet leaders. The same people who have the audacity to claim that no damage can be done to Article 370 ironically come from the same rootstock that helped in its erosion till now. They are the political heirs of a long legacy of connivance and treachery with this State and they should beware of the reprisals of treachery”, Dr. Farooq Abdullah added.
Asking the legal fraternity to leave no stone unturned to defend Article 370 and the State’s special status, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said our lawyers should continue to fight for the legal rights of our people with courage and determination. “You have the legal acumen and the knowledge to foil these attempts to undermine the State’s autonomy and rob what remains of Article 370. We saw how the judiciary stood up to the Central Government in Uttarakhand and upheld the sanctity of democracy and the constitution and this is something that should inspire all of us. National Conference will strengthen its legal cell and be in constant coordination with the legal fraternity in the common mission of safeguarding the State’s political rights and status”, Dr. Farooq added. 

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