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'Centre is hand-in-glove with Abdullah'

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Panther Party chief Bhim Singh today accused the Union government of acting in complicity with Farooq Abdullah in getting the autonomy resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi soon after Home Minister L K Advani had addressed the media, Bhim Singh said the home minister's statement that the Cabinet would "consider" the resolution indicated that Farooq Adbullah was tacitly supported by the government all along.

"What Farooq has done is an act of treason and he should immediately be dismissed and President's rule imposed in the state," said an agitated Bhim Singh.

He claimed that no agreement was signed between Sheikh Abdullah and Pandit Nehru in 1952. "I give full credit to Mrs (Indira) Gandhi for integrating the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India by signing an accord with Sheikh Abdullah in 1975. Now Farooq says that he wants to go back to pre-1953 status. He is undoing what his father did. Will he disown his father?"

He termed the autonomy proposal as a well planned Anglo-American conspiracy to create a buffer Islamic state in Kashmir to enable Pentagon to establish its military bases on the foot-hills of Himalayas to keep a check on Russia and China.

"I feel time has come when the state of Jammu and Kashmir should be reorganised. Jammu should be carved out as an independent state and Ladakh should be given the status of a Union territory," he demanded.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chaman Lal Gupta, who hails from Jammu, however dismissed Bhim Singh's criticism as absurd.

"Advaniji is the home minister of India and he has to think about the entire country and not just the state of J&K," Gupta said.

He, however, agreed that if the Centre accepted J&K's demand for autonomy, it would encourage other states to break away from the Union.

Gupta accused Farooq Abdullah of betraying Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's trust. "When he came to Delhi, he assured the prime minister that he would not put the proposal to vote. But we are not surprised, this is an old trait of Abdullah," he said.

Would the Centre dismiss the Farooq government?

"At the moment there is no reason to dismiss his government. But if the situation so demands, I am sure the government will not hesitate," he said.

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