SRINAGAR: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi skirting any statement on Article 370, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said BJP is shying away from committing on this contentious issue and is instead keeping its feet in two boats in Jammu and Kashmir which normally ends up sinking.
The Chief Minister, who is the working President of National Conference also dubbed BJP as an opportunist party with whom he feels there cannot be any relationship.
Omar, who heads the coalition government with Congress made these remarks when asked to comment on BJP talking in different voices on Article 370 that grants special status to J and K and avoiding making a direct statement on the issue during the Assembly polls.
“Of course, they are avoiding to be caught in this issue because it will be a problem for them. In Jammu, Article 370 becomes a national issue, up in the hills in Jammu, they are silent about it and in Kashmir their candidates claim that fiddling with Article 370 will lead to picking up of guns. So they are contradicting themselves depending on the place in the State where they happen to be,” he said in an interview to PTI during the course of his hectic campaign for the Assembly elections.
“They don’t want to commit themselves one way or the other. But, again, while trying to put their feet in two boats, they will end up sinking,” the 44-year old Omar said.
Modi, who was in Kishtwar of Jammu region yesterday, refrained from making any political statement on Article 370.
Refusing to predict outcome of elections, Omar said, “I never make predictions. It’s never been my habit. In school, I never predicted my exam results and I never predicted my election results.”
However, in case of a hung assembly, the Chief Minister made it clear that he would not be having any ties with the BJP which had accused him of being corrupt.
On the allegations levelled by the Prime Minister and BJP President Amit Shah, Omar questioned “BJP has been in the government for the last six months at the Centre. Please tell us where we have robbed the State?” In reply to another question, Omar was quick to list the 2010 summer agitation, which was sparked off by a fake encounter by Army in Machil of North Kashmir by gunning down three civilians and dubbing them as militants, as an incident which will haunt him for a long time.
To a question whether BJP, which is on ascendancy in the entire country and is trying to make inroads into Kashmir, may end up polarising resulting in heightened communal tension in Jammu region and the Valley, Omar said, “Let us see. In the past, I know, attempts have been made to polarise the voters. The 2008 Assembly elections took place in the shadow of highly polarising Amarnath land row agitation”.
Asked whether he thought that BJP was trying to make deep inroads into the state in a big way, he said, “They are welcome to do that. The majority of their inroads will be at the cost of Congress.”
Omar misses his father and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah. “We are the only party that does not have a star campaigner because, unfortunately, our star campaigner’s health does not allow him to campaign. I was hoping that he will talk to his people over phone but that did not happen because his health did not permit. May be someday, let’s see,” he said.
Farooq is undergoing medical treatment in London for a kidney ailment.
Asked whether there was confusion among the separatist ranks and files during this year’s election, the Chief Minister said, “I think there is less confusion today as there was yesterday. Syed Ali Shah Geelani withdrawing his strike calls for November 25 in Ganderbal and Bandipora districts and telling people to decide for themselves whether they should vote or not, I think that is a good development.
I think in this case, boycotting elections will be detrimental to the interests of the people of the State, particularly the people of Kashmir”.
“I hope the other separatist leaders, if they are not hand-in-glove with BJP, will also withdraw any boycott call they are proposing to give, particularly people like the Mirwaiz (Umer Farooq) and Yasin Malik. This is now their test to see where they stand,”he added.
(PTI)