‘No understanding with BJP’
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Oct 27: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said his hopes for restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir were fading as the issue drags on.
Speaking with reporters, when asked about his next step if Statehood was not restored, Omar said, “Let’s get to that point first. We will talk then.”
The Chief Minister said that he was hopeful about Statehood restoration from day one, but that hope is diminishing. “But the longer this issue drags on, the hopes will fade. The longer you make us wait, the less hopeful we will be,” he said.
Omar, however, said he was still hopeful that Statehood would be restored. “There still is some hopefulness. If it happens within this hopefulness, it will be better,” he added.
The Chief Minister refused to comment on a report which claimed that he would resign if Statehood was not restored to Jammu and Kashmir within a finite timeline.
“I am not going to say anything about that. I have nothing more to say on that. The interviewer tried to ask me questions about that. If I did not answer her, what makes you think that I will answer you?” he added.
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Omar said that if there were no obstacles in governance in a Union Territory set up, every State would be asking for it. “If there were no obstacles in governance in a UT set up, am I mad to seek Statehood? If it were easy in a UT, then all States would have sought to be a UT,” he said.
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“There are issues which come to the fore. The department is under me, and I have to answer before the House, but the officer in the department is not of my choice. There are many examples. There are several institutions which should have been under the control of the elected Government, but are still not with us,” the Chief Minister said.
He said he wanted the issue of Statehood to be discussed in the Assembly, as it would have revealed where the 28 MLAs of the BJP stood on this.
“We wanted to talk about it. But it seems that the Speaker has put a bar on it. I had no problem talking about it, as one MLA had tried to bring a resolution on statehood. We wanted statehood to be discussed, but the Speaker is the custodian of the House.”
“I know where I stand on the Statehood issue; if a resolution for restoration of Gtatehood comes, I know which way we will vote. But we have a party with 28 MLAs about which we have no idea what they think about Statehood. They sought votes on Statehood, but the Centre did not restore it,” he said.
Omar said the business rules of the Union Territory Government were pending approval of the Centre.
“A couple of rounds of discussions have taken place between our officers and the Centre. They have raised some questions, but we told them that the business rules we have sent are under the JK Reorganisation Act. We have not gone out of the Act; these rules should be approved,” he said.
On slapping the Public Safety Act (PSA) on AAP MLA Mehraj Malik, the CM said it was unjustified.
“I still maintain that whatever Mehraj Malik did it did not warrant a PSA. We have a Union Minister who branded the entire Muslim community disloyal. If he got away with it, what wrong did Mehraj Malik do?” Omar asked.
The Chief Minister also lamented that the Speaker has opined that no sub-judice matter can be discussed in the Assembly. “The unfortunate part is that if every sub-judice matter cannot be discussed in the Assembly, people will rush to courts so that we cannot talk on any issue in the Assembly,” he said.
Omar lashed out at the BJP MLAs for suggesting that his Government was ignoring flood-affected areas of Jammu, as the majority there was of the Hindu faith.
“The BJP is under the wrong impression that we govern like they do. It is the BJP that has kept 15 per cent of the population out of the Central Government. BJP today has not a single Muslim member in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. They do not find a single Muslim fit enough to be a minister in the Central government.
“We will decide after assessing the losses, not on the basis of region or religion. We will seek a package as per losses, and as soon as we get the money, it will be distributed,” he added.
Regarding MLA Handwara, Sajad Gani Lone’s statement calling Rajya Sabha elections a ‘fixed match’ between NC and BJP, the Chief Minister stated that the person who has not taken part in the elections should clarify what his helplessness was to help the BJP.
“If he wanted to avoid match-fixing, at least he would have used his vote,” he said, adding that the people of Handwara did not send him here to remain silent and play double roles. He should openly say whether he is with BJP or not.
“On the day when elections were announced, I had maintained that those who do not take part in this election or abstain are directly helping the BJP. The media had already announced the results, giving us three and the BJP the seat. But, on the ground, we fought and tried to win,” he said.
Regarding the Rajya Sabha results, he said those who have made a deal of their faith should answer to Allah, adding that he would like them to come forward.
Omar also said that one of the independent MLAs had approached him and admitted that he made a mistake. “The MLA was not allowed to open the dummy voter slip and thus he voted in the wrong place,” he added.
Omar said that on the last seat, four votes went in favour of the BJP, while three deliberately destroyed their votes because they didn’t give a first preference; they directly wrote a second preference. Therefore, the BJP clearly made attempts to lure people. On what basis they were lured, whether they were induced or anything else, that only the BJP can answer,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that there was no understanding with BJP. “The only party that is taking on the BJP in J&K is the NC. We are the ones who took them on in the Rajya Sabha elections, nobody else. Congress could have fielded a candidate; they chose not to. In Nagrota, where is PDP’s candidate? Congress also, at the last minute, told us they will not fight, so I had to scramble to find a candidate. Otherwise, we were ready to support Congress in Nagrota. We are not those people who have a secret understanding,” he added.
Omar said that his attempt is that the central government should maintain relations so that J&K government’s work is done properly. “But the relationship between the government, the National Conference, and the BJP has a big difference. There is no relation between the National Conference and the BJP anywhere else. What will happen to my relationship with the central government is another thing,” he said.
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