JOIN USNC demands Modi apology for 'beggar state' remark
Seeking apology from BJP Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for describing Jammu and Kashmir as a beggar state, ruling National Conference on Saturday said that such an insensitivity demonstrated arrogance and lack of comprehension of a person aspiring to become the Prime Minister.
In a joint statement senior NC leaders observed that it was neither slip of tongue nor an inadvertent mistake “but a deliberate attempt on the part of Mr Modi to provoke the people of Jammu and Kashmir to react so that BJP derived
benefit in the states going to polls.”
“By showing immense degree of sagacity, the people of the state have not obliged the saffron brigade to succeed in its machinations”, they said, while cautioning against the BJP’s “sinister designs”.
Modi had last week in his address in Jammu declared that instead of separate (independent) state as being asked by the separatists and “beggar state”, made by the state Government, the BJP would make Jammu and Kashmir a super and better state.
They claimed by showing sheer disrespect to the people, BJP has come out in its true colours. “They cannot wear the mask of decency for a long,” the leaders added.
The leaders decried the hypocrisy of Modi by talking about winning the hearts and minds of people by invoking the spirit of Atal Behari Vajpayee and “in the same breath showing contempt to the delicate sensitivities of the Jammu and Kashmir residents, who were proud of their glorious heritage which makes them givers and not the takers.”
The NC leaders also wondered over the logic put forth by BJP Member Parliament Tarun Vijay by relating Article 370 to direct investment, asking which economics he was professing to the people.
“By saying that Article 370 has made the state poor and deprived people opportunities to employment, industrialization and direct investment, the BJP leader has demonstrated his intellectual bankrupcy,” they claimed.
The leaders cautioned BJP to desist from testing the patience of people and not to attempt raising their castles at the cost of delicate sensitivities of Jammu and Kashmir.