Updated: October 24, 2020 6:54:03 pm
Farooq Abdullah has been appointed President of the Peoples’ Alliance for the Gupkar declaration; Mehbooba Mufti will be a deputy. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)
The President of the National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, said on Saturday that the Peoples’ Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which was formed to restore the special status of Jammu and KashmirIt is an “anti-BJP” platform but “not anti-national”.
Farooq, who was unanimously elected president of the PAGD, said: “I want to tell you that this false propaganda from the BJP that the PAGD is anti-national. I want to tell you that this is not true. There is no doubt that (the PAGD) is anti-BJP but it is not anti-national ”.
The signers of the alliance met at the Mufti residence for the first time after its formation, and adopted the flag of the old state of J&K as their symbol.
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The former chief minister said that the BJP has tried to break the federal structure through acts such as the repeal of Article 370 and the division of J&K into two Union territories.
The signers of the alliance met at the Mufti residence for the first time after its formation.
“They have tried to destroy the Constitution of the country, they have tried to divide the nation, to break the federal structure that we saw, what they did on August 5 of last year… I want to tell you that this (PAGD) is not an anti-national jamaat. Our goal is for the people of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh to regain their rights. That’s where our battle is, our battle is nothing more than that, ”he said.
While PDP President Mehbooba Mufti was elected as Abdullah’s deputy, CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami was appointed as the alliance coordinator. Meanwhile, Sajad Lone of People’s Conference was appointed spokesperson.
The head of the PDP, Mehbooba Mufti, addresses the press after being released. In front of it is the J&K flag (in red) and the PDP flag. (File / Express Photo of Shuaib Masoodi)
The alliance will publish a white paper within a month on governance at J&K in the last year since the repeal of Article 370, Lone told reporters after the meeting.
“The white paper will not be rhetoric. It will be based on facts and figures to present the reality to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and across the country… It is giving the impression that all corruption has occurred only in Jammu and Kashmir, ”he said.
On August 4 last year, the signatories to the Gupkar Declaration – so named because they met at Farooq Abdullah’s residence on Gupkar Road in Srinagar – had promised to “defend the identity, autonomy and special status” of J&K.
Last week, the alliance’s signers had met for the first time since August 2019, after Mufti was released from 14 months in detention.
(PTI inputs)
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