BJP Accuses NC of Misleading Public on J&K’s Constitutional Issues
Sharma further said that legislative proceedings are now under greater public scrutiny due to increased digital access to Assembly debates. This transparency, he argued, has made it more difficult for political parties to make unverified claims or evade accountability
SRINAGAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday intensified its criticism of the ruling National Conference (NC), accusing it of deliberately confusing the public through what it described as misleading constitutional terminology.
Speaking at the party’s ‘Mega Joining Programme’ at Srinagar’s lakeside Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma challenged the government to substantiate its repeated claims regarding “special status” for Jammu and Kashmir. He said he had openly confronted the government in the Assembly, asking it to identify where the term “special status” appears in the Constitution in the manner the NC has been projecting. According to him, Article 370 “is history,” and there is no possibility of its restoration.
Sharma also revisited the 2024 Assembly elections, alleging that the NC had sought votes by promising to restore Article 370, only to later claim that such a move was impossible without support from the BJP at the Centre. He urged the public to question what exactly is being promised under the banner of “special status,” arguing that constitutional positions cannot be reshaped through political slogans or emotional appeals.
The BJP leader accused the NC leadership of adopting contradictory political positions over the years. While the party frequently criticises the BJP in public, Sharma alleged that it has historically aligned with the BJP whenever politically convenient. He urged the people of J&K to scrutinise these inconsistencies and hold political leaders accountable for shifting narratives.
Sharma further said that legislative proceedings are now under greater public scrutiny due to increased digital access to Assembly debates. This transparency, he argued, has made it more difficult for political parties to make unverified claims or evade accountability. He also criticised the government for what he described as vague commitments on employment and electricity supply, asserting that many promises lacked clarity and required greater transparency.
Continuing his attack, Sharma accused the NC of betraying the youth of J&K through political deceit, double standards, and governance failures, particularly in the area of employment. He reiterated that Article 370 would not return and accused the NC of misleading voters during the 2024 elections by suggesting otherwise. He again questioned the NC’s repeated invocation of “special status,” insisting that the term has no constitutional basis as presented by the party.
Sharma also criticised the NC’s past governance record, alleging that it had failed to deliver on commitments related to autonomy resolutions and financial packages. He accused the current government of outsourcing nearly 24,000 jobs to a private company instead of filling them through a transparent recruitment process. According to him, these posts were handed over without open advertisements, written examinations, or interviews, thereby depriving deserving youth of fair opportunities. He warned that bypassing established recruitment procedures was an injustice to thousands of families who had invested in their children’s education with the hope of securing government employment.
Demanding full disclosure, Sharma called on the government to reveal the identity of the company involved and explain the recruitment mechanism. He said the BJP would raise the issue both inside and outside the Assembly until transparency was ensured. He also criticised the government over its promise of providing 200 units of free electricity, alleging that it was attempting to attribute the benefit to central schemes rather than fulfilling its own commitments.
Sharma urged BJP workers to take constitutional and governance-related issues to the grassroots level and counter what he described as misinformation being spread by political opponents. He reaffirmed that the BJP would continue to question the government on matters of governance, employment, and transparency. The event concluded with several political workers joining the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders, “marking another phase of the party’s outreach efforts in the region”.
