Lok Sabha bye polls a fight against tyranny and fascism: Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar/April, 4: National Conference President Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the upcoming parliamentary by-polls presented a historic opportunity to fight against the wave of tyranny, majoritaniasm and fascism sweeping across the country. Addressing successive public meetings in Khan Sahib Assembly Segment of Budgam District on Tuesday and Safa Kadal in Eidgah, Srinagar, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said Kashmir’s very survival was at stake and this was our collective moment of reckoning in a battle of dignity, honour and prestige. The public meetings were also addressed by NC Working President Omar Abdullah, NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, Senior NC Leaders Mubarak Gul and Mir Saifullah, NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, Senior Congress Leader and MLC Ghulam Nabi Monga, National Conference Leader and In-charge Khan Sahib, Manzoor Ahmed Wani and YNC Senior Vice President Yunis Mubarak Gul also addressed the successive gatherings in Bubdgam and Srinagar.
“This is no ordinary election where two parties contest against each other based on their particular ideologies. This election is a war of survival between fascism and dignity – between BJP’s cultural and tyrannical onslaught on one end and Kashmir’s collective honour and prestige on the other end. We are fighting this battle against those forces that have defamed our youth, robbed them of their dignity and eyesight and attacked our cultural and religious legacy of tolerance and co-existence”, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said while addressing the public meetings.
The National Conference President said PDP’s alliance with the BJP had brought the State at the crossroads of political suppression and uncertainty as basic liberties and rights of the people had been unofficially suspended under a chronic anti-Kashmir agenda that has been harboured by the RSS ever since 1947.
“These are the same people who have always questioned the State’s special status, its flag and its very regional political identity and have always advocated its complete abrogation. By aligning with them, PDP has provided them a space to attack us from within and weaken us internally and for this the people can never forgive them”, Dr. Farooq Abdullah added.
“Today the fact of the matter is that BJP has three legislators from Kashmir Valley all thanks to PDP’s support in MLC elections. A party which couldn’t register a basic electoral presence anywhere in Kashmir has been gifted three legislator seats in the Valley by the PDP under a well-planned and elaborate plan to provide BJP and organizational and legislative foothold in Kashmir. This is a development of alarming significance and should wake us up from our slumber. It is crucial to come out in large numbers on the 9th and 11th of this month and tell PDP that while it might gift BJP legislator seats it cannot foist anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim forces on our hearts and minds”, Dr. Farooq Abdullah further said.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah asked the people to unite in a common mission to eradicate the last traces of the communal, right-wing PDP-BJP Alliance from Kashmir as the future of our next generation was in peril.
“The future of our children is in peril. We have to wage this political and democratic war of courage to ensure their future isn’t one of darkness and servitude under these forces who leave no stone unturned to suppress, intimidate and vilify us – our faith, our history and our social ethos. We owe it to our future generation to rise and rise against tyranny and fascism lest our children have to suffer on account of our failure to defeat these forces today”, the National Conference President said.