Srinagar, 02 Oct (KNS): Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Friday paid glowing tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his 151st birth anniversary, terming him a doyen of secularism, harmony and peace.
With non-violence as his canon, humanism his trinket, Gandhi Ji mainstreamed peace, empathy and equality said party’s Additional General Secretary Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal. “Gandhi Ji, a recognizable figure of the twentieth century propagated and envisaged an idea of India with equal opportunities for all. We are celebrating his birth anniversary at a time when the country is treading a path contradictory to the one shown by him. Gandhi’s agenda was always about freedom, equality, and a life of dignity,” he said.
according to statement issued to KNS reads, the present regime is on a path which not only goes against the very spirit of India but against the philosophy and principles of the man who in totality was a sole incarnate of India’s true essence, Kamal said. “He would have been appalled by the treatment of Muslims, Dalits in India and the pervasive discrimination against the Kashmiris. It was he who had seen a ray of hope in Kashmir when the entire subcontinent was overrun by the communal frenzy. It was the sacrosanct bond of cherished ideas of secularism, humanism and equality that strengthened the connection between Kashmir with the rest of India. However the present regime has given a ditch to the idea of the great soul by back paddling on its commitments and assurances made from time to time to the people of Kashmir. Unfortunately the country has faltered on the idea of a nation based on respect for all the communities, the acquittal in Babri Masjid case, the horrific rape and murder in UP’s Hathrus, the celebration of Godse on Gandhi Jayanti is a point in case, a grim reminder of the dark times the country is reeling under. Today we live in an India where delinquent acts are celebrated and the delinquency goaded around,” he said.
He said that 'Sab ka saath, Sab ka vikas' has become a cliché which the present dispensation has not lived upto. "Present ruling dispensation has given a ditch to the morals, values and principles of parliamentary democracy. The unilateral, unconstitutional and undemocratic abrogation of Articles 370, 35-A is one such glaring example," he said. (KNS)