Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a blistering attack on the Congress party for its alliance with the National Conference (NC) ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. He also questioned the Congress party's position on several key issues outlined in the NC's election manifesto, suggesting a misalignment with the national interests. In a pointed attack, Shah posed ten questions to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, accusing the party of jeopardising national unity and security in its pursuit of power. He charged that Congress’s decision to align with the NC was driven by a self-serving desire for political gain, at the expense of the country's stability.
"The Congress party, which has repeatedly risked the nation's unity and security to satiate its greed for power, has once again exposed its ulterior motives by allying with the Abdullah family's 'National Conference' in the Jammu and Kashmir elections," Shah said on X, listing ten questions.
The 10 questions posed by Amit Shah are:
- Does the Congress support the National Conference's promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir?
- Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party support the JKNC's decision to restore Article 370 and 35A, and thereby push Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism?
- Does the Congress support promoting separatism again by engaging in dialogue with Pakistan instead of Kashmir's youth?
- Do the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi support the National Conference's decision to start 'LoC Trade' with Pakistan, thereby nurturing terrorism and its ecosystem across the border?
- Does Congress support reinstating relatives of those involved in terrorism and stone-pelting into government jobs, thereby bringing back terrorism, extremism, and the era of strikes?
- The alliance has exposed the Congress party's anti-reservation stance. Does Congress support the JKNC's promise to end reservations for Dalits, Gujjars, Bakarwals, and Pahadi communities, thereby inflicting injustice upon them?
- Does the Congress want 'Shankaracharya Hill,' to be known as 'Takht-e-Suleiman,' and 'Hari Hill' as 'Koh-e-Maran'?
- Does the Congress support the politics of pushing Jammu and Kashmir's economy back into corruption and handing it over to selected Pakistan-supported families?
- Does the Congress party support the JKNC's politics of discrimination between Jammu and the Valley?
- Do the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi support the JKNC's divisive politics of granting autonomy to Kashmir?
NC-Congress seat-sharing
Earlier in the day, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress has been finalised for a majority of assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and that parleys were underway to reach a consensus over the remaining constituencies. The NC and Congress on Thursday announced a pre-poll alliance for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which is going to polls for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
J-K Assembly polls 2024
The Election Commission of India on Friday announced the schedule for upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Polling to elect 90 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will take place in three phases. The elections will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results of the polls will be announced on October 4. It will be the first election in the valley since provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution were abrogated and the erstwhile state divided into two Union Territories in 2019.
ALSO READ: Jammu and Kashmir elections: NC to fight on 13 seats, Congress on 10 in first phase, say sources
