Babbar echoes Modi on funds issue, cut short by Soz

Mr. Soz said though he was "not happy" with the state government, he cannot blame the entire government for "usurping central funds."

Senior Congress leader Raj Babbar and JKCC Chief Safi-u-Din Sooz adressing press conference in Srinagar Saturday 29, November 2014. PHOTO/ NISSAR AHMAD.

Congress leader Raj Babbar on Saturday echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying that funds from the Centre meant for the people of Jammu and Kashmir did not reach them, but was cut short by state party chief Saif-ud-din Soz who said the Prime Minister was resorting to “propaganda”.

“If you ask me honestly, I have been saying this since 1982 that the money from Delhi does not reach the people here.

I was not in politics then but I have been saying this and this is the reason that people here feel that they have not been given their due,” Mr. Babbar told reporters here.

Mr. Babbar, however, added that the Congress party had no evil intentions and had started a policy for the funds to directly reach the people.

“When UPA understood this, they started a policy ‘your money into your hands’. The sole aim to start this policy was that the common man should get what was his right. Now, did people actually benefit or not, but there is no evil in Congress’ intentions,” he said.

Mr. Babbar was quickly cut short by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Soz, who said the Prime Minister was resorting to “propaganda” and such a “falsehood” was not “acceptable” to the people.

“Modi resorts to propaganda in everything. Nobody can say that all the central funding has gone waste. This is a falsehood that is not acceptable to the people,” Mr. Soz said.

Mr. Soz said though he was “not happy” with the state government, where his party is in a coalition with the National Conference (NC), he cannot blame the entire government for usurping central funds.

“I was not happy with this outgoing government because governance was one of the poorest for various reasons. Things may have gone wrong...but I cannot blame the entire government for having usurped central funding,” he said.

At a rally in Udhampur, in Jammu region, yesterday, the Prime Minister said the Centre had pumped so much money for the development of the state that if it was distributed and directly deposited into the bank accounts of the residents here “you people would have been the richest people in the country. But, you people never got anything.”