NC, BJP clash in J&K, CM Omar Abdullah alleges police bias

After the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A, the main city centres of Srinagar, including the Lal Chowk area, for the first time on Wednesday witnessed high-voltage ‘political’ protests as the ruling National Conference and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused each other of failing the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The large assembly of BJP workers and their supporters near Ghanta Ghar stunned political pundits as they raised slogans accusing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s government of failing on governance, jobs, and basic services. The state unit Chief and Rajya Sabha MP Satpal Sharma and Leader of the opposition, Sunil Sharma, led the protest from Lal Chowk toward the Civil Secretariat.

The National Conference workers led by their elected representatives assembled near Gindun Sports Complex in Rajbagh, attempted to march toward the BJP headquarters in Jawahar Nagar, demanding the Centre restore statehood and honour commitments made in Parliament and before the Supreme Court.

The policemen deployed at ground zero stopped both processions. BJP workers were halted near Hari Singh High Street and Jahangir Chowk; NC protesters, including ministers and MLAs, were blocked at Rajbagh.

Both parties alleged bias in how the administration handled the two events. The NC said its peaceful protest was restricted while the BJP was facilitated and escorted by the police personnel.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reacted strongly, accusing the police and the administration of adopting different standards while dealing with protests by the BJP and the National Conference, claiming that while the saffron leaders were escorted, those from his party were dragged.

Talking to reporters, Abdullah said that while police “facilitated” the BJP leaders during their march to the Civil Secretariat on Wednesday, his National Conference (NC) colleagues were “brutally repressed”.

“You saw one protest that was denied. It showed the situation in J&K today: if you want to march on the Chief Minister’s residence, you’re allowed to; if you want to gherao the Secretariat, you’re allowed to; but if you want to protest outside the BJP’s office, God forbid, you will not be allowed, because the police are there only to protect the honour of the BJP; they don’t care about anything else,” the Chief Minister said. BJP protesters also burnt an effigy of Omar Abdullah and raised slogans such as “Omar teri sarkar mein andhera hai andhera hai,” pointing to a recent electricity tariff hike and the unkept poll pledge of 200 units of free power. They also alleged outsourcing of around 24,000–25,000 Government jobs, backdoor appointments, delay in panchayat and urban local body elections, water shortages, and corruption. “The JKNC’s peaceful protest was stopped from moving forward. People were prevented from joining, and elected representatives were mishandled. Yet, when the BJP held a protest outside the Secretariat, it was allowed to proceed. What a shame!” the NC said in a post on X.

NC MLA and chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said the BJP did not fulfil its promise to restore statehood to J&K. “Where is statehood? It has been two years since the elections. The time has come to fulfil the promise made to us,” he told reporters. Demanding restoration of statehood and the constitutional guarantees revoked by the Centre on August 5, 2019, Sadiq said the NC will continue its protest till “what was snatched from us is given back”. Addressing the party workers, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Sunil Sharma, said the people of J&K are facing hardships, but the Government is doing nothing to address their problems.

He said the protest centred around four issues: “selling” jobs instead of conducting fair recruitment; not conducting local body polls; “rampant corruption”; and power tariff hikes.

Sharma also accused Abdullah and his party of only parroting the issue of Statehood and not focusing on governance.

Criticising the chief minister, the BJP leader asked if people elected him to “live like a prince and go skiing in Gulmarg and Pahalgam?”

He also dared Abdullah to resign from his home constituency, Ganderbal, and seek a fresh mandate over the issue of restoration of statehood to J&K.

“If you have any self-respect left, fight an election on it (statehood). Only then will we acknowledge it as your issue,” Sharma said. He also said the issue of Statehood belonged to the BJP, as it has promised the people of J&K to restore it at an appropriate time. “If you (Abdullah) truly wish to protest on the issue of statehood, resign from Ganderbal. I challenge you from this historic venue – Crown Prince, resign over the issue of Statehood and contest a fresh election.

“If people re-elect you, we will accept that Statehood is your genuine issue. Otherwise, we will conclude that Statehood is not your issue; it is the agenda of the BJP. Misleading the public must stop,” Sharma said. Responding to Suni Sharma’s demand for his resignation as the chief minister, Abdullah said there was no reason for him to step down.

“Why should I resign? Should we assume that they have no intention of granting statehood to this Government? If so, why are we not hearing it directly from the Centre? If they truly intend to tear the Constitution to shreds, disrespect the Supreme Court, disrespect Parliament and prove Modi’s promise as false, let them do so. I am not going to resign just to please the LoP,” Abdullah said.

The chief minister said the people of J&K gave his party a mandate for five years and he will present a report card to them. “As for the allegations (of corruption), does my government even have the authority to conduct an investigation? Let the LoP tell us what investigation was carried out. If backdoor appointments took place, which agency investigated them? Let him name just one. “The Anti-Corruption Bureau is not under my control. The Crime Branch is not under my control. The CID is not under my control, let alone the central agencies. Tell us, where was an FIR filed?” he asked.

Abdullah also accused the BJP of making baseless allegations since it didn’t have anything else to say. “We are bearing the brunt of their mistakes; we are trying to fix them, yet they are the ones protesting,” he said.

Reacting to these simultaneous demonstrations, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti accused the police of adopting double standards with different political parties. “The same police that won’t allow PDP to step outside its office to hold a peaceful protest on public issues have facilitated both the BJP and the NC to protest against each other,” Mehbooba said on X.

She said, “These blatant double standards must be explained – who authorises these selective restrictions and why the law is being applied differently to different political parties”.