Avinash Azad
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the decision on restoration of statehood to the Union Territory would be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, asserting that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the J&K Assembly would have no in the matter.
Reacting to repeated statements by the LoP, Omar said he did not have the time to respond to every statement issued during the day. “Statehood will be restored when it has to be restored. It will not happen after consulting the LoP. He may wake up one morning and read in the newspaper that statehood has been restored,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister said the National Conference had chosen to stage its protest in Delhi rather than outside the LoP’s residence because the decision on statehood rested with the Union government. “If the decision had to be taken by him, we would have protested outside his house. The decision has to be taken by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, so we protested in Delhi. This process will continue,” he said.
On the reported move to introduce a Bill concerning Vande Mataram in Parliament and accord it a status equivalent to the national anthem, Omar said the Bill should first be introduced and debated before the party takes a final position.
“We have two members in the Lok Sabha and three in the Rajya Sabha. Let the Bill come. We will see what to do after that,” he said.
On the issue of Business Rules for the Union Territory administration, Omar said the J&K government had already sent a proposal to the Government of India, which subsequently suggested certain changes. “We made those changes. Before sending it back to the Central Government, we thought it would be better to informally consult some people here,” he said. According to the Chief Minister, a copy of the draft was also informally shared with the Lok Bhavan, but the government had not received any response so far.
“We will wait for another seven to ten days. If there is no response, the draft we have prepared will be sent back to the Government of India,” Omar said.
Taking a dig at the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over allegations that the government was distorting statements made by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to cover up its alleged failures, Omar said those making such allegations should approach the police if they believed the statements had been deliberately misrepresented. “If we are distorting her statements, then file a case. Who has stopped you? Go to the nearest police station and lodge an FIR,” he said.
Omar said that if a mistake had been made, it should be acknowledged and an apology offered. “Everyone makes mistakes. We are not angels who cannot make mistakes,” he said, while taking a swipe at the PDP and alleging that the party had made “more than its share” of mistakes. He also referred to an earlier explanation reportedly attributing the controversy to artificial intelligence, saying that after the “AI argument” did not work, the blame was now being shifted onto others. Omar also criticised Mehbooba Mufti over her participation in political activities in Delhi, saying that his government had not sent her there.
“When we tried to bring her to Delhi, she did not come. If she had come, perhaps this mistake would not have happened,” he said. Without elaborating on the specific remarks he was referring to, Omar said Mehbooba had gone to Delhi and made comments that, according to him, focused on “cockroaches” rather than Kashmiris.
He further suggested that PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Para could apologise on Mehbooba Mufti’s behalf if she did not do so herself. Omar’s remarks come amid an ongoing political debate in Jammu and Kashmir over the restoration of statehood, the functioning of the Union Territory administration and a series of contentious statements exchanged between the ruling National Conference and opposition parties.
