Change will come, with first vote cast wisely: Mehbooba PDP provides a credible alternative

                                                       

GNS Srinagar Feb 2 : Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has said the

people of the state alone can bring in a change in the system of governance  and their lives through the process of public accountability. Addressing a meeting of party workers in Pahalgam today she said change would start with the first vote cast in right direction that could make all political parties accountable to people for whatever good or bad they do. "PDP is an important instrument in this process as it has provided the people with a credible alternative first time in our history" she added.

Mehbooba said the governance has been made hostage to vested interests of a single party in the state that corrupted both the system as well as those who ran it without challenge. She said democracy is meaningless without a competition and for the last sixty five years National Conference stifled all opposition to ensure a monopoly for itself. This she said resulted in a situation in which the people became mere pawns in power game that NC manipulated to its benefit through u turns, sell outs, bartering away of water and power and humiliating compromises at all crucial stages of our history.

Mehbooba said the objective of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is only to change this environment of exploitation and that was the only reason for him to have given up the assured comforts of being in a national party like Congress and float a regional party. She said the party showed during its brief tenure in power how relief could actually come to people and their lives could change. " It is the performance of state governments that changes lives of people be it J&K under the PDP- congress coalition or the Bihar considered most backward that under its present government has changed the face of the state which is now growing at the fastest pace among all states" she said. She said there was no reason why our state could not overcome its problems of infrastructure, illiteracy and unemployment if there is a party in power that has a vision and the will to do it as was shown by Mufti saheb in just three years.

Mehbooba said people must believe in their power to change their destiny through democratic means which is the first requirement in bringing in the change. Unfortunately we have been led the wrong way for too long which resulted in immense loss and turmoil in the past, because of the selfish policies of NC. She said even now the ruling party is resorting to hollow slogans for seeking political relevance and the AFSPA is a stark example of this misleading approach. " The chief minister has the power to do what he wants others to do for him but he avoids it only to create a permanent issue for NC like plebiscite, autonomy and return to 1953 position so as to use them as election time weapons" she said and added if the government was sincere in its claims it would release all detenues, withdraw false cases of stone pelting against five thousand youth and set free teenagers imprisoned under PSA. She said people cannot be fooled anymore by emotional slogans while on governance front it has completely failed, electricity disappeared, rations scarce, jobs on sale and youth facing repression.

Referring to the dismal performance of coalition government Mehbooba said corruption has become the symbol of its ministers and top leaders. This government, she said has dismantled all institutions of vigilance and only promoted favourites for partisan purposes. She said hundreds of retired bureaucrats have been re employed while the number of unemployed youth was increasing. The delay in making appointments to vacant posts in the government was deliberate to fill them when elections are approaching as the NC has always considered government jobs as a commodity to be sold for money or political favour. She regretted that the clean and transparent system established by the previous coalition had been completely subverted by this government in pursuit of short term gains but expressed confidence that people would punish them for this subversion.

Addressing the meeting senior leader and former minister Tariq Hameed Qarra said NC had lost the last shred of its acceptability among people. Having realised this, he said Omar Abdullah was now virtually begging congress for an alliance in an afford to somehow retain a foothold in government. But, he said the people who reduced the party from 68 members in the assembly to 28 are capable of showing it the door whatever its tactics and humiliating terms.

Qarra said NC has become a curse for the state and the sooner it goes the better it would be for the people. He said the ruling party is soaked in corruption and in Haji Yousuf case and cricket scam the Abdullah family's complicity would some day certainly be probed to bring the truth out. He said these major cases should have been followed up with detailed investigation but the top police officer who presided over their hushing up was sought to be rewarded with plum post retirement rehabilitation in an anti corruption body. "Where you have such system of rewarding people for saving highly placed suspects what honest investigation and anti corruption steps could be expected" Qarra said.

On this occasion MLA Rafi Ahmad Mir  highlighted the local problems and urged the government to address the shortage of electricity and water faced by the people of Pahalgam constituency. MLA Mansoor Hussain also spoke on this occasion.