Jammu Kashmir National Conference General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar on Thursday said democracy was necessary for restoring a sense of entitlement, security and enfranchisement among the people of Jammu Kashmir.
Sagar said this while presiding over a meeting of prominent block office bearers of Harwan-Khanyar-Munawarabad Block at party headquarters Nawa-e-Subah, Srinagar.
Upcoming party programmes and parliamentary elections were on the agenda of the meeting. Provincial President YNC Salman Ali Sagar, Block President Bashir Ahmad, and party functionaries were present at the meeting.
Addressing the participants, Sagar said democracy forms the core of India’s identity, permeating every facet of life in the nation.
“Our principles of democracy played a pivotal role in our struggle for independence, and following our nation’s liberation, they became the fundamental principles shaping our public life. As we have constructed a new Parliament building, it is crucial to always remember that the most revered entity within this temple of democracy is none other than democracy itself but the same is being denied to us,” he said.
The NC leader criticized those “spreading misinformed propaganda” about Article 370.
“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,” he said.
“Even after 1990, Jammu 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,” Sagar said, adding, “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.”
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, he said, adding that 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, adding, “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.”