The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti Thursday said the people want to vote for change, not for mere slogans, anymore, and ruling parties both at the Centre and state have to show their report card of performance to people before seeking votes.Addressing a series of workers meetings in Baderwah segment of Udhampor parliamentary constituency Mehbooba accused NC of resorting to hollow slogans at the time of elections to hide the failures of its government over the last more than five years in the state.She said NC can’t befool the people by raking up emotive issues and by leveling false allegations against the PDP but it has to come out with its performance report before the people so that it becomes easy for everyone to judge what they have done over these years.“Helplessness of the ruling dispensation to give an account of its performance is genuine given the fact it has nothing to show and its only achievements have been scams, frauds, mis-goverance and killings,”
she said adding Omar Abdullah has virtually given up before the people’s power when he had said ‘parliamentary polls are not about his performance’.Mehbooba said truth is that both NC and Congress have failed the people of Jammu & Kashmir as they remained disconnected from the ground with the result people have to cry for even basic amenities in every nook and corner of the state.Castigating the Congress-led UPA in the Centre, she said it has turned a blind eye to every blunder which the Omar Abdullah-led government committed in the state besides it has miserably failed to reach out to the people of J&K politically to address their genuine grievances.
The PDP president said the Central government didn’t work seriously to address the people’s woes and it even didn’t carry forward its own agenda which it had started in its earlier inning to address different aspects of J&K.She said the prime minister’s working group recommendations are gathering dust and their non-implementation shows how the Centre government has been particular about the people of the state.
Accusing National Conference of playing the power politics and of being non-serious with the issue of people Mehbooba said fighting elections for PDP mean to uphold the interests of the state and provide voice to the people’s sufferings.
She said the biggest harm which the NC has done to the people of the state is that it has not been able to motivate the political leadership of the country with the problems of the state and sentiments of people and instead it has helped to add on the existing level of mistrust between them and New Delhi by remaining busy with the power.She said J&K needs a new direction and the story of the state needs to be told forcefully in New Delhi to make the country aware about the sentiments and aspirations of people which has till now not been done as NC has been using its mandate to secure jobs for the members of the Abdullah family.She said people of the entire Chinab Valley are facing huge problems and the ruing government has not been able to mitigate their genuine grievances.
She said various hydroelectric projects in the area are posing serious threat to the ecology and environment of the region and the last year’s quake which unleashed huge devastation in the area and the repeated tremors latter, are said to be due to these power projects. But after sacrificing hugely, the locals are not even preferred in the jobs in these projects.Mehbooba said Toursim Development Authority started by the previous PDP-led government in Baderwah has failed to create jobs and do anything positive to uplift the economic condition of people only.she said Baderwah being the oldest sub-pision has also been ignored in the recent expansion of administrative units.