NC, Cong attribute BJP’s poll debacle in 3 states to politics of intolerance, suppression of democratic rights

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) and Congress on Tuesday attributed the victory of Congress and other parties over BJP in 5 states to the politics of intolerance and suppression of the democratic rights of people during last four years of saffron rule in the country.
Local news gathering agency KNS quoted State Congress President Ghulam Ahmad Mir as saying “Politics of intolerance has no place in India and people have delivered this message to BJP in all the five states which went polls recently. Congress is the only party committed to establish religious plurality in the country and any party tending to divide the people in the country will have to face the fate BJP faced today in the five states. The results in five states are just a beginning and I am sure BJP will be decimated in 2019 Lok Sabha elections on its own failures including demonetization and politics of religious divides.”Saying that people have seen regional parties failing on their commitments, Mir claimed that in Jammu and Kashmir too Congress will emerge as the single largest party in the coming assembly elections.
When contacted senior NC leader and party General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said “Jammu and Kashmir is a different state where the issues are related to its own identity which have to be maintained. People of the country have voted against Mandir-Masjid politics, religious intolerance, renaming of historical cities and cultural places just for vote bank politics. The people in power have been denied the mandate on the divisive politics they were propagating for the last four years. Jammu and Kashmir Governor must take lessons from the verdict of five states and desist from triggering controversies by tinkering with the state laws and the key institutions.”