BJP scared of facing people of Jammu and Kashmir in elections: Omar Abdullah

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was scared of facing the people of Jammu and Kashmir in electionsAddressing a workersrsquo convention in central Kashmirrsquos Budgam district the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that it was imperative for workers to strengthen the party which he ldquoasserted was the only party working to stop the caravan of the BJPrdquoHe said if people are happy with ldquoexorbitant taxation soaring unemployment and demolition drive then they should vote for the BJPrdquo ldquoIf you want an end to unemployment antipeople antiJampK actions then you should strengthen National Conference on ground While other parties the A and B teams have accepted the decisions of August 2019 its NC which is striving for the restoration of our peoples pride their land cultural democratic constitutional and fundamental rightsrdquo he said according to a statement issued by his party in SrinagarGovernment of India led by the Bharatiya Janata Party struck down the special constitutional status of the erstwhile state on August 5 2019 and downgraded the state into two federally run Union TerritoriesAhead of the decision the government cracked down on local political parties in the region and detained three former chief minister including Omar For the past two years the parties have been demanding the restoration of the statehood and elections in the Union TerritoryOn Thursday an allparty delegation of Jammu and Kashmir leaders headed by Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president and Parliamentarian Farooq Abdullah met the Election Commission of India ECI in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum demanding elections in the Union TerritoryBefore meeting the ECI the delegation met national opposition parties to discuss issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir including restoration of statehood imposition of property tax antiencroachment drive protests by job aspirants and targeted killings of minoritiesAlso readDelhi Police deny permission for public meeting on Kashmir at the Gandhi Peace Foundation citing possibility of law and order disturbanceReports suggest that the delegation made an argument by pointing out that if the situation is suitable for holding the G20 meeting in the region it should also be suitable for holding electionsMeanwhile Omar said that governments actions are light years away from healing the wounds of people ldquoThe lands which were given to people by Sheikh sahib are being snatched away Our resources jobs being out sourcedrdquo he claimed as per the statementQuestioning the government claims of ushering in employment extravaganza in JampK he said the claims are not visible on ground ldquoWhere are those thousands of jobs Where is that promised investment All the promises have ringed hollow and miserably failed to live up to the hype Not even a day passes when one or the other selection list ends up in a scandalrdquoThe former chief minister said that as far as the tourism sector is concerned ldquowe had vacated the meadows from security forces since then there has been no headway in bringing the area on the tourist map of region and country ldquoLocals wouldnt benefit in wake of such process Had government given them easy loans for establishment of restaurants and hotels the economic condition of the area would have been different However nothing has been done to improve the economic condition of my brothers and sisters living around the meadowrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever