Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Former Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah today said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is afraid of facing the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which is why elections were not being held here.
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This he said while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a party function at Kulgam.
“Elections can be held. There is no reason that they cannot be held. The Union home minister regularly said the security situation is conducive for elections, and we have to wait only for the weather. Now, the weather has changed. If you ask whether elections can be held or not, my answer is yes they can surely be held,” Omar said.
The former Chief Minister said that the BJP is not ready to face the people of J&K.
“But, if your question is whether the elections are going to be held or not, then I can only say that if the BJP is afraid of facing the people, then elections will not be conducted. If they are ready to bravely face the people – which I do not feel they are – but if they are, then yes, the polls will be conducted,” he added.
Omar said there should not be any ban on any religion. “The country’s constitution treats every religion equally. When the country’s leaders visit other countries, they talk about India’s secular character, and about Mahatma Gandhi. They say India rejected the two-nation theory,” he added.
“Right now, there is a talk about G-20. There are those countries in G-20, which want justice with every religion. This is why I am saying there should not be any ban on any religion either in Assam or anywhere else, especially if there is no unlawful activity going on. They (seminaries) are giving education to poor children. What is wrong with that?” he asked.
Omar termed the local administration “incompetent” after a conman, Kiran Patel, posing as a PMO official got the requisite perks, and claimed it was befooled four times.
“My colleagues are not provided security even after so many requests. When they have to travel and seek an escort, the police say they do not have any vehicle or personnel… It is fine that you do not have a vehicle, we cannot complain. But when a fraudster comes from outside, then you have the vehicle available. A person came from Gujarat and said he was an officer in the PMO but no one verified his claim,” he said.
“They should have called the PMO to verify his credentials or a letter would have come from there. We understand that you (administration) were befooled once, but what incompetent Government is this that you were befooled four times,” he said.
Lashing out at the administration, Omar said this administration was not for providing succour to the people, but only to please the PMO.
“This one (Patel) was arrested. But we do not know how many frauds must have come here. We do not know which hotel they stayed in. Some say three came here and then left. Is this a Government?
Interacting with reporters after the party function, the former Chief Minister alleged that only the frauds are benefiting from the administration.
“No genuine person has benefitted from this Government. People are distraught. People agitated in both Jammu as well as Kashmir and forced them to cancel the (JKSSB recruitment) examinations which were to be conducted by Aptech – a fraud company. “But, why did they bring such a blacklisted company? The companies are frauds, the officers are frauds. There is no justice for the honest, and the youth,” the NC leader alleged.
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