After winning a historic mandate in the first Assembly polls, held after the Abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A, National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah Wednesday set the agenda of the incoming government by announcing that the alliance government will pass a resolution demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood in its first Cabinet meeting.
Omar also claimed his party would keep the issue of restoration of Article 370 alive and continue to raise it. He shared his thoughts with the media, assembled at his residence, where a large number of party workers and elected public representatives converged on Wednesday to celebrate their party’s big victory in the assembly elections.
A delegation of the Congress party leaders led by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief Tariq Hamid Karra and All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge Bhartsinh Solanki also visited the residence of Dr Farooq Abdullah and greeted him.
Listing out the priorities of the incoming government in office, Omar told reporters, “My suggestion to the incoming government will be that the first business of the cabinet should be to pass a resolution asking for statehood to be restored to J&K and the CM should travel to New Delhi with that resolution. Call on the senior leadership of the country and ask them to fulfil their promise. It is the Prime Minister, Home Minister and others who have promised the people of J&K statehood. Nowhere did they say that statehood would be restored only to a BJP government or a government that has BJP members. They said the statehood would be restored to J&K and that is what we hope will be done”.
Responding to a question related to his party’s stand on the issue of Article 370 Omar said, “Our political stand will not change. We have never said that we will remain silent on Article 370 or that Article 370 is not an issue for us now. I have said this many times before the elections that hoping for the restoration of Article 370 from the people who snatched it will be foolish.”
“But we will keep this issue alive. We will continue to talk on this and hope that tomorrow there will be a change of government in the country, there will be a new setup with whom we can discuss this and get something for J&K,” he added.
Commenting on the scale of mandate Omar said while he is humbled by the mandate of the people, he is also acutely aware of the responsibility that it places upon them.
“The people of J-K have gone unheard since 2018. Now the time has come for us to work for the benefit of the people of J-K. I am also acutely aware of the fact that there is a sharp divide between Kashmir and Jammu and therefore, the incoming Government will have a major responsibility of giving a sense of ownership to the people of Jammu,” he said.
“The Government that comes in the next few days will not be a government of the NC or of the alliance, or it will not be a Government of those who voted for the alliance, it will be a Government for every single individual of J-K, regardless of who they voted for, or whether they voted at all,” the NC leader said.
“A special emphasis will be laid to give a sense of ownership and a voice within the government to those areas from where MLAs in this coalition will be less in number,” he added.
Asked how important was the need for coordination between the new J-K government and Centre, the NC leader said nothing could be achieved by having a confrontation with New Delhi.
“Let the government be formed first. This question should be posed to the chief minister. There should be a cordial relationship with New Delhi. My advice to him (CM) will be that we cannot address any issues by having a confrontation with the Centre.
“It is not that we will accept the BJP’s politics, or that the BJP will accept our politics. We will continue to oppose the BJP, but it is not our compulsion to oppose the Centre. It will be for the benefit of J-K and for the people of J-K to have a good relationship with the Centre,” he said.
“The people have not voted for a confrontation. The people of J-K have voted because they want employment, they want development, they want the restoration of the Statehood, they want to address electricity and other issues and that redressal will not happen by having a confrontation with New Delhi,” he added.
Omar said the NC would call a meeting of the legislative party on Thursday to start the process of Government formation. “I have spoken to NC president Farooq Abdullah and the party will call a legislative party meeting tomorrow. After that, there will be a meeting of the alliance partners where the alliance leader will be elected and then we will go to the Raj Bhavan to stake the claim for Government formation,” he said, adding, “I hope the new Government is in place in the next few days”.
