Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 3: National Conference (NC) Working President and former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, today called on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to either form the Government or be bold enough to fight another election.
“Two months are nearing now after the death of Mufti Sayeed. We want to ask the PDP and BJP for how long can the people in the State wait for the Government. Either form the Government or if you are not prepared then tell the Governor to dissolve Assembly so that we can prepare for fresh elections. This uncertainty may have adverse effect for a sensitive place like Kashmir,” Omar told reporters here on the sidelines of a party function.
Omar said the prevailing situation is not beneficial for the State and political uncertainty in the State is dangerous. “Both the parties should rise above their party interests and think of the State,” the former Chief Minister said.
The NC working president said the party is ready if fresh Assembly polls are held in the State. He said the Governor’s decision to hold Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies polls are hinting towards delay in the Government formation in the State. “We are ready for elections if the PDP and BJP don’t form the Government. And then the Governor has also indicated holding of ULB and Panchayat elections and we have to prepare for those polls,” he said.
The former Chief Minister lashed out at PDP for allying with BJP and made it clear that the NC won’t now offer any support to it for Government formation, saying “it is useless now”. ”We had offered unconditional support to PDP because we wanted to keep BJP away from forming the Government. Mufti Sayeed did not accept our offer. Now the BJP has made its entry with the help of PDP into the State. Today, RSS is doing its activities in Srinagar. Gujjar hutments are burnt in Jammu and police has fired on the people there. So there is no use to offer unconditional support to PDP. Had PDP accepted the offer, we would not be seeing the prevailing situation,” he said.
The NC working president expressed concern over the increase in militancy in south Kashmir and asserted that the situation needs to be tackled politically. “Educated youth are going back to gun and we should react quickly so that we don’t plunge into nineties like situation again,” he added.
“I am not worrying about encounters but the automatic law and order situation that emerges after encounters and then the use of force further aggravates it. The situation which could be dealt politically is dealt administratively. Until elected Government and representatives don’t deal with these issues, situation in south Kashmir will not improve but will deteriorate further,” he added.
Commenting on the row over holding a pro-Afzal Guru event in Jawaharlal Nehru University and subsequent events, the former Chief Minister said: “Every sane person can say that it should not have happened with students. Everyone should be allowed to hold his opinion. Most unfortunate thing was that a few media houses created propaganda against them by showing doctored videos. This is not good for democracy. We all need to speak out”.
Omar once again took a dig at PDP over implementation of National Food Security Act in the State and reiterated that he during his tenure refused same because he was aware about the Act’s “adverse effects on people”.
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