SRINAGAR — Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of betraying the poor by opposing the land rights bill brought by her party MLA Waheed Para in the assembly.
The former chief minister asserted that the bill was aimed at protecting poor families who had built small houses on grazing land decades ago, and not to legalise recent encroachments.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday rejected Para’s bill on recognising proprietary rights for houses illegally built on government and community lands, with CM Abdullah saying its passage would “open floodgates for land grab”.
“Omar did not betray the PDP, but all the poor people from whom he wants to snatch shelter from over their heads,” Mehbooba Mufti told reporters when asked if the chief minister had “betrayed” her party after getting support for the Rajya Sabha elections.
The PDP president said Para’s bill was not for legalising recent encroachments on state land, but for providing a roof over the heads of the poor.
“We were talking about the poor person who has no option and has constructed a house on four-five marlas of state land and has been living there for the last 20-25 years. We were not talking about those who occupied land now, but those who have already been there for the last 20-30 years,” she added.
By rejecting the bill, Chief Minister Abdullah has rejected the efforts to provide shelter to the poor, Mehbooba Mufti said “The BJP called it land ‘jehad’, Omar said land grabbers, meaning the people of Kashmir and Jammu are land thieves. We wanted to save the roofs over the heads of poor people who have faced bulldozers since 2019. By rejecting that (bill), Omar has rejected our attempts to save those people,” she said.
Referring to the PDP’s support to the ruling National Conference (NC) in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J-K said her party voted for the NC in exchange for support for the bill.
“We tried at our own level. We have three votes and we told them to take our votes but save the shelters of the poor, but what can I do if he does not want to,” she said.
On the issue of regularisation of daily wagers, Mehbooba Mufti said her party had also brought a bill in this regard.
“We had also brought a bill on daily wagers. These are very poor people, the poorest section of society but they run the PHE, Irrigation, Power development, Health and Education departments. They have been working for the last 20-25 years. The government had sought votes to regularise the daily wagers and to safeguard the land in J-K,” she said.
The PDP chief said that J-K not having statehood cannot be an excuse for not addressing the issue.
“Omar regularly says that there is no statehood and he cannot do anything, but he could have done something on this bill. They could have done something about the apprehensions in the people over land, but they could not do this much,” she added. — (PTI)