'Not a single promise fulfilled in 365 days': BJP castigates Omar Abdullah

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday castigated J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as his government completed its first year in office, saying that he (Omar Abdullah) has not fulfilled a single promise which the National Conference (NC) had mentioned in their election manifesto.

“Omar Abdullah has forgotten all the promises he made in his manifesto. It has been a full year since his government came to power, and not one commitment made to the people has been honoured,” Tarun Chugh told IANS.

Chugh added that 20 per cent of his tenure has already passed, while he had promised to provide employment to lakhs of youth and assured that the Youth Employment Act would be introduced within three months.

“Instead of reducing unemployment, the queues for jobs are only getting longer. Your government has completely failed to deliver on employment,” he added.

Chugh further claimed that all sections of society, including farmers and the poor, are deeply dissatisfied with the performance of the government.

“When will these promises be fulfilled? Poor families are unhappy. Whatever you promised remains unfulfilled. People are burdened by high electricity rates. The government has failed on all fronts. It feels as though there is no functioning government at all. The entire Abdullah administration is operating like an inexperienced, trial-run government. Jammu and Kashmir is still waiting for the promises in your manifesto to become reality. Not a single one has been delivered in the past 365 days,” Chugh said.

Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16 last year, after his party, the National Conference, secured a landslide victory in the assembly elections, its first major win in over a decade.

However, most of the party’s promises remain unfulfilled.

In its manifesto, titled “Dignity, Identity, and Development”, the National Conference pledged to work toward the full implementation of the Autonomy Resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2000. It also vowed to restore the pre-August 5, 2019, status quo concerning Articles 370 and 35A, and statehood.

The party further promised to, in the interim, seek redrawing of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and the Transaction of Business of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Rules, 2019.

The manifesto also stated that the party would strive to amend, annul, or repeal post-August 5 laws that undermine Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, while protecting land and employment rights of its people.

In its first year, however, the Omar Abdullah government has achieved little on these fronts except for a resolution in its first cabinet meeting calling for restoration of statehood and another in the Assembly urging the Centre to create a constitutional mechanism to restore the region’s special status.

--IANS

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