Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Oct 04
National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah on Sunday accused the Election Commission of selectively deleting names from electoral rolls and said growing public resistance showed that political change was on its way.
Speaking at the fifth Halla Bolle conclave in Srinagar, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister criticised Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“No one has the right to remove anyone from the list,” Abdullah said, alleging that Muslims had been selectively targeted. He cited Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal as an example of someone whose name he said had been removed.
Abdullah said public protests against the SIR in Mumbai and Delhi showed that people were increasingly willing to challenge the process.
“Courage is beginning to emerge among our people. Change will come,” he said.
He said the Election Commission should have been made fully autonomous and blamed the current system for allowing governments to exert influence over the poll body.
Abdullah also criticised the BJP-led central government, saying it had undermined the Constitution and sidelined the legacy of B R Ambedkar.
He said the government in Jammu and Kashmir was working under severe financial constraints but was doing what it could to improve people’s lives.
“We are walking on the edge of a sword,” he said, adding that ministers were travelling across the region and trying to reach people despite limited resources.
Abdullah said the government had suffered financially over the past year but was continuing to function.
He also accused the BJP of using religion to divide people and reiterated his opposition to the 2019 removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Abdullah said successive governments had gradually eroded the region’s autonomy by extending central laws to Jammu and Kashmir.
He also criticised political forces within Jammu and Kashmir for what he described as compromises made for power and office.
On the Kashmir dispute, Abdullah said the promised process for determining the territory’s future had never been implemented and argued that Article 370 should ultimately have been made permanent.
He also urged people in Jammu and Kashmir to become more self-reliant, including in agriculture and employment, rather than depending heavily on outside labour.
