Renaming institutes won’t change history, says NC

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 11

The National Conference (NC) today regretted dropping the ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’ prefix from Srinagar’s premier international convention complex, popularly known as the SKICC.

The party said it was yet another attempt of “distorting the reality and undermining the stature” of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, “an epitome of secularism”, who rejected Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s two-nation theory and preferred secular and democratic India of Mahatma Gandhi. “Changing names won’t change history, which stands testimony to the role and contribution of the Sher-e-Kashmir towards the nation in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular,” senior National Conference leaders said in a statement here on Thursday morning.

Expressing anguish over the alleged “myopic decision” of the government, they said this would in no way undermine the “towering personality and stature” of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah.

The statement added, “Sheikh Sahib was a visionary mass leader and statesman who stood for the just cause of the people alongside his contemporaries during the freedom struggle. His stature cannot be confined in the myopic prism of regional politics, as he fought for democracy when the entire nation was struggling to break the shackles of the British under Mahatma Gandhi.”

“Being a contemporary of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Maualana Abul Kalam Azad and many other national leaders, Sheikh Sahib fought for the marginalised people of Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of region, religion, caste or creed,” the statement added.

“Sheikh Sahib was a man of the era, who inspired compatriots for his unflinching faith in democracy and secularism which was not just a concept but a way of life and political philosophy for him,” the statement added.