Cautioning that fanatic tendency on political spectrum of the country has endangered glorious traditions of communal harmony and coexistence, senior NC leader and the Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs, A.R.Rather has called upon the people to curb communal and pisive forces by inflicting a crushing defeat to them in the current Parliamentary Elections so that they do not dare to raise their ugly head again. He said posterity will not forgive, if secular and peace loving people fail to nip this evil in the bud.Addressing a series of election meetings in Banagund, Chowdhary Gund, Showpora, Lolipora and Nowpora in tehsil Chadoora Mr. Rather said that the country has never, in its history, faced such a big challenge at the hands of communal forces as this time, adding that such evil forces have not only endangered communal ethos but unity and integrity of the country also.
The election meetings were organised to seek massive mandate in favour of NC president and NC-Congress Alliance candidate for Srinagar-Budgam Parliamentary Constituency Dr. Farooq Abdullah in particular and rest of the alliance candidates in general.Rather said while the opposition party PDP for short term electoral benefits has forgotten all ethics of the democracy and is desperately trying to hoodwink people by deceptive tactics, the election manifesto of BJP has threatened the peaceful co-existence of various ethnic identities. The manifesto has exposed its evil intentions visa-vis minority communities. He said if communal forces succeed to grab power at national level, the minorities will always feel themselves insecure and unsafe.He said Modi as chief minister of Gujarat has already failed to protect the life and properties of thousands of Muslims in 2002 Godra communal riots. He said BJP and its allies VHP, Bajrangdal, RSS, Shivsena have joined their hands against secular forces in the country. He said BJP’s promise in its election manifesto to abrogate Article 370 in order to scrap special status of J&K, is an open war against the people of J&K.
Its promise to introduce uniform civil code and construction of Ram Mandir at the Babri Masjid site with utter disregard to the sentiments of other communities is aimed at piding the society on communal basis adding that it will be disastrous for the unity and integrity of the whole nation. He asked the people of the state to vote in favour of secular parties so that a message goes to the people of the country that people of J&K are with secular forces in this battle.Castigating PDP for its double standards, Rather said this party has no agenda and is relying on lie and deceit for its survival. He said sagacious people of this state will reject this party in the current parliamentary elections like in previous elections. He said during their tenure they couldn’t do anything for the betterment of the state and its people and are now unnerved to see the landmark performance of the present coalition Govt.Rather while giving an overview about the achievements of the present coalition Govt. said that most of the promises made to the people have been fulfilled and no stone was left unturned to come upto the expectations of the people. Describing the present regime as a golden era of development and prosperity, Rather said big strides have been made in every sector of the life.