KL Report

SRINAGAR

Referring to PDP Spokesperson Dr. Sameer Kaul’s revelation that PDP was aiming to ‘electorally exploit the anguish and pain’ of the flood affected victims in the course of a panel discussion in a private New Delhi based NEWS channel, National Conference Wednesday said that these “startling, self-explanatory remarks by none other than the party’s Spokesman had exposed PDP’s self-seeking intentions which have manifested in the party’s desperation for elections while hundreds and thousands of people are still in need of sustained, long-term rehabilitation”.

“This”, NC Spokesperson said, “comes less than a week after PDP Member Parliament Muzaffar Hussain Baig has publicly castigated his own party’s desperation for elections when the people of this State are reeling in pain and misery.”

“The comments made by Dr. Sameer Kaul are for everyone to watch and draw conclusions from. This ruthless and insatiable lust for political power as an end in itself is a chronic trait of PDP. PDP wasted no time in trying to exploit the misery it ironically afflicted itself on the people of J&K in 2008 and unabashedly politicized death and destruction in the midst of that tragic collective humanitarian suffering. Then in 2010 PDP yet again repeated this demonstration of an insatiable appetite for political power at the cost of human suffering by choosing to play politics on the bodies of those young men who lost their lives. Now, when J&K has been devastated by an unprecedented natural calamity PDP is catatonically focused on exploiting this tragedy for electoral benefits,” National Conference Spokesperson said in a statement.

He said that earlier on, recent comments by PDP MP Muzaffar Hussain Baig opposing his own party’s tragic and ill-timed desperation for elections had put the party in an ‘embarrassing spotlight’. “Muzaffar Hussain Baig has unambiguously hinted at the fact that PDP’s impatient desperation for elections at such a tragic time would cost the party dearly when elections are held sooner or later.

Baig has said that PDP would be at the receiving end of criticism by the separatist leadership for its selfishness. We think that beyond separatist leaders, every single flood-affected victim will never forgive PDP for demanding that the administration be diverted from the rehabilitation process and used for the electoral process just a month after this devastating calamity. PDP will not be forgiven by the people of this State this time around,” he said.

The NC statement further said that PDP’s sponsored creation was in itself an institutional ploy to infiltrate the regional polity of the State, fragment it and eventually provide the convenience and bargaining power of options to those who are inherently and vehemently opposed to the State’s special political character and status.

“PDP has returned the favour to its sponsors and founding patrons at every juncture since its inception – be it in 2008, 2010 or now in 2014 at a time when every political party in the State should have come together above partisan politics to work apolitically for the rehabilitation of those affected by the floods”, the NC Spokesperson added.

“Let us be absolutely clear on one point. National Conference has sided with the people in their suffering throughout its inception eight decades ago. We have fought elections in extremely testing times and we have had the wisdom, the empathy and humanity to look beyond elections at junctures in our history where our leaders had the Statesmanlike vision to put people before politics. We have yet again chosen Statesmanship over politics by taking a pro-people stand. We will abide by whatever the Election Commission of India decides but we have clearly conveyed to them that the foremost priority in J&K should be the relief and rehabilitation of the flood ravaged State.”, the NC Spokesperson asserted.

He said that PDP should be given credit for distributing “flood-relief for non-flooded areas” selectively amongst a handful of its workers in areas that were completely unaffected by the floods while failing to make a single appearance in the flooded areas of the State.

The NC Spokesperson said that the PDP President, its Patron, all three of its Members of Parliament and all its MLAs took two weeks to “emerge from vacations outside the State after floods hit the State”.

“When they shamelessly emerged after a fortnight they emerged only to write columns in newspapers and issue photo-op press statements humiliating and embarrassing the flood-affected victims. PDP has invested 99% of its post-flood time and energy in a defamatory PR campaign and has not even dipped its toes in the rehabilitation process. As unsurprising as this is given what PDP stands for, this is a significant example of PDP’s priorities and non-priorities”, the NC Spokesperson said.

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