J&K National Conference (JKNC) president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will “sink” in the “game” of “communal politics” played by its leaders.
“If anybody is playing communal politics today….BJP is playing, RSS is playing. We have never played this game. They are playing and they will sink in this game,” Farooq told reporters on the sidelines of a function held here to pay tributes to JKNC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on his 38th death anniversary.
He said this when asked for comments over BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav’s remarks that the “Gupkar leaders are resorting to that dangerous game once again, this time in the name of Islam”. Madhav had made the remarks in a write-up that appeared in a local daily.
Over a year after the stripping of J&K’s special status, six main political parties including the JKNC, Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress had on August 22 announced that they stood by the ‘Gupkar declaration’ and will jointly fight for the restoration of Article 370.
Farooq maintained that the JKNC had always remained secular in character.
“National Conference has never run politics in the name of religion. Never….it is our history. What was the slogan of Sher-e-Kashmir (Sheikh Abdullah) – ‘Sher-e- Kashmir ka kya irshaad? Hindu, Muslim, Sikh itehad (unity)’. Wasn’t it? And he turned Muslim Conference into National Conference because he knew all were involved in it. In suffering and in poverty…there are Hindus also, Muslims also, Sikhs also, Buddhists also and Christians are also there. Then how did we become communal today?” he said.
Other JKNC leaders including party vice-president Omar Abdullah also paid tributes at the grave of Sheikh Abdullah at Hazratbal on the banks of Dal Lake.
