Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Monday observed that his party machinery was still intact and flourishing in the plain areas of Jammu region against all odds.
Sporting a white headgear Omar, in his inimical style, also lashed out at the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for not showing raw courage to hold the much-awaited Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Omar while addressing his first public meeting, after the Abrogation of Article 370, in Bajalta area of Jammu also charged that BJP was not ready to face electorate and that's why they were running away on one pretext or the other from holding elections. First they said it is necessary to complete delimitation of Assembly constituencies then they said summary revision of electoral rolls should also be completed. Then they talked about weather not being conducive but now they have no justification to further delay the polls. Abdullah said the weather is getting pleasant, they have only two reasons for delaying the polls further, one could be the worsening security situation which they claim has improved and the second being that they are afraid to face the voters.“If they had been brave, they would have gone for the elections.
After today’s public rally, some people (among the BJP) who were supportive of early elections will also feel jittery,” he said in an apparent reference to former legislator Devender Singh Rana who resigned from the post of NC provincial president and joined the BJP in October 2021.
Abdullah said the public meeting has proved beyond any doubt that the NC is alive both in Kashmir and the Jammu province.
“People come and go but those who have love for the organisation and are not linked to any particular individual will stay back because they are with the party’s principles, flag and agenda,” he said. The NC will show its real strength during the assembly elections, Abdullah asserted. “They will try to polarise the situation as they are doing elsewhere in the country. We have to frustrate their attempts by standing united,” he said.
The former chief minister said for the first time he is witnessing a government which “feels happiness in inflicting difficulties on the people. It will be better to get rid of this government as soon as possible”.
“They are only engaged in propaganda, drama and showoff… Sometime back, we heard of an outside company making an investment in Srinagar but it proved much ado about nothing,” the NC leader said referring to the Emaar group of United Arab Emirates laying the foundation of a mega mall project worth Rs 500 crore on Sunday.
He said his party was accused of being an obstacle in the path of development and job creation, and asked what happened over the past three years. “There is no new project, and recruitment for government jobs was cancelled owing to scams,” Abdullah said.
Those who celebrated the abrogation of Article 370 in Ladakh and Jammu are equally sad, he claimed. “We were angry from day one but there were some people who celebrated it with a hope of ‘New J&K’.
The people in Jammu suffered economically because of the stopping of the darbar move and anti-encroachment drive, while Leh people are openly expressing that they were happy to be part of J&K,” the NC leader said.