Farooq talks tough, targets Sangh Parivar

Farooq talks tough, targets Sangh Parivar
MUZAMIL JALEEL

SRINAGAR, JULY 9: Accusing the Sangh Parivar and Shiv Sena of being anti-Muslim, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that Centre cannot dismiss his Government and a final decision regarding his ties with the National Democratic Alliance will be taken during the National Conference working committee meeting tomorrow.

``The working committee meeting is to be convened tomorrow and we will look into it,'' he said and added that he and his party are committed to the restoration of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir state despite the Union Cabinet's outright rejection of the autonomy resolution passed by the State Legislative Assembly.

Referring to the demands of the dismissal of his Government by various BJP and RSS leaders, he said it was not possible. ``Gone are the days when Governments were being dismissed like that,'' he said.

Abdullah, who was attending a seminar on regional autonomy here, told reporters that he and his party feel angry and alienated becuase of thesummary rejection of the autonomy proposal. ``I am looking towards my own people. They (Centre) rejected the resolution, What then? I have not given up,'' he said. ``I will send my colleagues to brief all the constituents of the NDA before the start of the Parliament session''. He said ``all the doors have not been closed''.

Reacting to the comments made by BJP president Kushabhau Thakre and Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray, Abdullah said that he felt sorry for the BJP. ``It is not for the first time that they projected me as anti-national,'' he said. ``Why don't you remember what they labelled me in 1984. The called me Khalistani, Pakistani and traitor no. 1.'' He said he does not care about the allegations. ``I am an Indian and will remain so. Let them even send me to jail,'' he said. He said gun would never solve any problem and it was proven during the past 10 years here as well.

When asked whether the Centre's outright rejection of autonomy demand hadpushed him to the wall like (Muhammed Ali) Jinnah as he had said in the Assembly, he said, ``I have not reached that stage as yet.''

Abdullah said the Sangh parivar and Shiv Sena will never succeed in India. ``They even talked of throwing Muslims of India into the sea. Did they succeed in doing so?'' he asked.

Regarding Centre-Hurriyat talks, Abdullah said it was time to initiate a dialogue with Hurriyat. ``Let the Centre do that. It will expose the Hurriyat stand as well,'' he said.

Abdullah said his party will not allow the trifurcation of the State at any cost. He said the aim of his controversial accord with the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was to lessen the gulf between Hindus and Muslims of the State. ``The Hindus would generally support Congress, while Muslims would support the National Conference (NC) and I wanted to bridge that gap,'' he said.