Jammu, January 20
Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, today said that the Centre should talk to all sections of the people in Kashmir to find a lasting solution to the imbroglio.
Mrs Gandhi was addressing a mammoth public meeting here which was a virtual launching of the campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
She hoped that the Centre would take the dialogue with Pakistan to a logical end so that peace was restored in the sub-continent.
She said the Congress had always maintained that the Kashmir problem should be solved through a dialogue with Pakistan, but at that time the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was speaking a different tone of fight to finish with Pakistan. However, it was a welcome change that Mr Vajpayee had now started pursuing what was advised by the Congress.
Mrs Gandhi said the atmosphere for a dialogue with Pakistan was created only when the Mufti-led coalition government came to power in the state.
The meeting of Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled states convened by her at Srinagar last year also contributed to create a congenial atmosphere and sending a signal across the country that the situation had improved in the valley, she said.
She said the innocent people of the valley have suffered a lot because of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and now it was the time to heal their wounds by restoring development works. This was a big challenge that the state government had to face although the
Congress was not in power at the Centre.
In a bitter attack on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Mrs Gandhi accused it of having miserably failed on all fronts. While the common people were suffering, the Vajpayee-led government was spending crores of rupees on getting costly advertisements published in newspapers and magazines.
She said the Centre had failed to check the price rise and provide employment avenues to the educated youth. The farmers were depressed because of their inability to repay loans.
Referring to Kashmir, she warned that the fundamentalists were trying to create disunity among the people of the three regions. She complimented the people for foiling the plans of the BJP to split J&K in three different states that would have been worst than the partition of the country.
She said Congress had always made sacrifices for the welfare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indira-Sheikh Accord of 1975 when the Congress itself stepped down from power and handed over the reins of the government to Sheikh Abdullah was also aimed at the betterment of the people. Even last year the Congress being the biggest party was in a position to stake its claim for forming the government here, but it backed Mufti Sayeed in the national interest.
Mrs Gandhi said the Congress was committed to implementing the common minimum programme under which the recommendations of the Wazir Commission and setting up of a finance commission for equitable distribution of finances among the three regions was provided. A delimitation commission would also be set up for reorganisation of the Assembly constituencies.
She said the election promise of the Congress to get the Dogri language included in the eighth schedule has been met. Other promises will be implemented soon.
Earlier, Mrs Ambika Soni, general secretary of the AICC, said in their meeting with the Congress ministers and legislators here last evening, Mrs Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh directed them to implement the election promises immediately.
Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, PCC president, complimented the people for thwarting the efforts of fundamentalists to create communal disharmony in the state.
Mr Arjun Singh, CWC member, was among those present in the meeting.
Earlier in the morning, Mrs Sonia Gandhi lauded the “exemplary” role played by the Army and paramilitary forces in safeguarding the country and its frontiers. Their sacrifices will always be remembered by the people, she said.
She was addressing the state council conference of the ‘sadbhavana ke sipahi’.
Honouring Paramvir Chakra awardee Subedar Bana Singh, hero of the capture of the Siachen glacier in 1984, she said these forces will continue to serve their motherland under all circumstances and their sacrifices would always be remembered.
