Bilal Bashir Bhat| Follow @bilalbashirbhat
“While J&K remains a Union Territory, I will NOT contest assembly elections,” this is the silence breaking statement of Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir today made in an op-ed published on a reputed newspaper “Indian Express” after a year, the Articles 370 and 35-A were abrogated, 05 August 2019.
“As for me, I am very clear that while J&K remains a Union Territory I will not be contesting any Assembly elections. Having been a member of the most empowered Assembly in the land and that, too, as the leader of that Assembly for six years, I simply cannot and will not be a member of a House that has been disempowered the way ours has,” he wrote.
Pertinently, Omar Abdullah was released nearly after eight months of detention on 24th March this year, days after his father and Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah was also released from house arrest.
Despite the statement carries a heavy weight in terms of the political development, the silence breaking statement of Omar Abdullah evokes negative response by the people of Kashmir, but his party cadre, Onlykashmir[dot]in collected some responses from prominent figures of Kashmir Valley:
“Omar Abdullah’s statement is mere a political stunt when every party including Apni Party, BJP etc are raising issue of statehood. Our concern should to focus on rebuilding economy and showing a plan to settle the educated youth of Jammu and Kashmir more particular about the Valley,” says Jagmohan Singh Raina, Chairman All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) while talking with Onlykashmir[dot]in.
“It’s a travesty that after such collective humiliation, Omar Abdullah doesn’t have courage to take clear position. Through his long op-ed he conveniently remains invested in the realm of vague, confusing & coward statements and ducks the elephant in the room that is articles of 370 & 35A. One is more interested to know whether NC is ready to contest elections even without restoration of 370? This he doesn’t answer. Demand for statehood is no big deal & Omar Saheb’s voice today sounds no different than BJP or Apni Party”, said Danish Iqbal, Youth PDP leader and working for party media cell while taking with Onlykashmir[dot].in
“As of now they have lost the relevance in politics, they have nothing new to fool the people except demanding statehood. Social, political and economical condition of Jammu and Kashmir, whatever, is no concern for power hungry politicians. The Abdullahs bulldozed the greater Autonomy of Kashmir from time to time. Formation of STF, tempering of Art 370 more than 15 times is in the political baggage of National Conference,” says Syed Mujtaba, a lawyer by profession and prominent activist.
Pertinent to mention here, the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s specials status comes days after a delegation of National Conference headed by Farooq Abdullah met PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Commenting on the meeting which earlier raised many questions in several quarters, Omar Abdullah stated, “One day I may write about it but propriety precludes me from saying more than that we left the meeting with a completely different impression about what was going to unfold in the next 72 hours.”
“Electoral politics will not be able to restore our rights and dignity, we were stripped of our statehood on 5 August 2019, they can’t fool us with their fake promises anymore. The only development post august 2019, has been graveyard development. J&K has never seen such economical disparity and destruction as witnessed after abrogation of Article 370, the saga of turmoil and sufferings of people of Jammu and Kashmir reveals the apparent, there is absolutely no confidence in New Delhi on ground, neither it’s electoral politics,” states Peer Viqar Ul Aslam, Journalist and TV debater.
Prominent Television Debater and Lawyer Babar Qadri while commenting on the development stated, “not only Omar Abdullah but everyone will choose to be away from this undemocratic system. Unless and until the confidence of the people is restored, no action of democracy can be initiated. Had they anticipated the present position then I am sure we would haven’t been in this political quagmire.”
