Asserting that 2014 calls for an end to the monopoly of the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has said elections in the year offer an opportunity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to change the state's political and governance systems.
"2014 (state and national polls) offers an opportunity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to change the political and governance systems in the state," Mehbooba said at a public meeting in Kalakote constituency of Rajouri district today.
The system has remained hostage to the interests of a single party, which alone or in alliance, has been calling the shots without any challenge from within the system, she said.
"Monopoly has resulted in complete dis-empowerment of institutions and corruption in the system. Whether it is the mandate for high-elected positions, admission to professional courses, recruitment to Class IV jobs or engagement of daily wagers, everything is on sale," she said.
There is no doubt that people are fed up with the misrule and corrupt practices of the NC-led government, and the wave of change sweeping other parts of the country has added to the momentum and urge for a change here as well, Mehbooba said.
She said a dispassionate use of democratic rights to vote can bring in a real change in the lives of the state's people.
Mehbooba said the people of the state have now a clear choice available to them whether they want to continue with "the lawlessness, darkness, repression and corruption of status-quo" or give a decisive mandate to the PDP, which has established its honesty of intention and ability to deliver during its brief stint in power.
Alleging that the government has started resorting to the election-time gimmick of laying foundation stones, the PDP president said on the one hand Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has acknowledged financial crisis caused by his government, and on the other dozens of foundation stones are being laid without any fund allocation.
The people brought to the notice that the foundation stone of a Rs 6-crore bridge had been laid in the area, but a mere Rs 2 lakh has been allocated for the project, she said.
She said by unveiling a nearly four decade-old foundation plaque in Jammu University, the present government has added a new farcical dimension to its development fraud.
