Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to bring his government down by persuading MLAs of the National Conference to switch sides, reported PTI.
“Attempts are being made to break the National Conference,” Omar Abdullah said at a convention of party workers in Hazratbal on the 26th death anniversary of his grandmother Akbar Jehan.
Jehan was a politician who had represented Srinagar and Anantnag in the Lok Sabha.
On Saturday, Omar Abdullah alleged that an MLA from his party had told him that the BJP offered him Rs 30 crore and a ministerial berth to defect, reported PTI.
When that did not work, the MLA was told that Jammu and Kashmir would be given statehood if he were to support the BJP, the chief minister further alleged.
On August 5, 2019, Article 370 of the Constitution – which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir – was abrogated and the erstwhile state was split into two Union Territories: Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
In December 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 2019 order abrogating Article 370 and ordered the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
In October, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be restored at an “appropriate time” after discussions with political stakeholders.
On statehood demand
During the convention on Saturday, Omar Abdullah asked the Union government to clarify what it mean by an “appropriate time”.
“I ask them, for God’s sake, how will we know that the appropriate time has come,” asked the chief minister. “What do I and my colleagues have to do to reach that appropriate time?”
He also asked if the “appropriate time” implies the BJP coming to power in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Have the courage to say it publicly,” said Omar Abdullah. “At least, we will not remain in this deception that you will fulfil the promise.”
If the Centre was ready to talk to the people of Ladakh, “why not the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, PTI quoted him as asking.
The chief minister also said that the National Conference’s victory in the 2024 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir had become a “punishment” for the residents of the Union Territory.
“Why did you [let us] form the government if you will not allow it to function?” he asked. “What is the benefit? Then you should not have conducted the elections.”
He accused the BJP of controlling governance in Jammu and Kashmir through the lieutenant governor.
Protest for statehood
The remarks came two days after National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah urged leaders across political lines to join a peaceful protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, demanding that statehood for J&K be restored.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13.
Farooq Abdullah questioned why the Union government has offered “no timeline” for when statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
“This is not merely a delay,” he wrote. “It is an affront to the democratic will of an entire people.”
Edited by Sara Varghese.
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