Taking a swipe at the BJP over its criticism of the National Conference’s proposed Delhi protest on 20 July, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday asked whether his party should “go to the White House and meet Trump” if it was not allowed to demand the restoration of statehood at Jantar Mantar.
Addressing a massive ‘Chalo Delhi’ rally in Jammu, Omar declared that the National Conference would take its fight for Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood to the national capital, accusing the BJP of treating the demand as a political issue despite repeated assurances from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Omar said, “Today, thousands of our mothers, sisters and young workers from different parts of Jammu have gathered here to raise their voice and send a message to the Centre that there will be no more waiting.”
He said, “Granting statehood is not a favour to the people of J&K; it was the PM’s promise to the people.”
Hitting out at the BJP, Omar said, “Our patience is being mistaken as for weakness. After BJP’s taunts and finger-pointing, we have decided to take to the streets and achieve what we could not through dialogue.”
“Should we go to President Trump’s White House in America to seek our statehood? If we cannot get justice in our own country’s capital, then tell us where we should go,” he asked.
“If protesting at Jantar Mantar and outside Parliament won’t help, then the BJP should clearly tell us where the demand for statehood should be raised,” he added.
“Exactly an hour away from here, in Katra, the Vande Bharat train was flagged off, and the Prime Minister delivered a speech. While talking about the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, he said, ‘This is not an ordinary promise. This is Modi’s promise.”
Omar questioned whether the BJP is waiting to grab power here before restoring J&K’s statehood. “If yes, they should hold a public meeting and openly tell the people that until a BJP leader becomes the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, we will not restore the statehood. The purpose of delimitation in J&K was to help the BJP and its allies. The number of seats was increased. Seven new seats were created in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP won six of the seven. This alone reveals that the purpose of delimitation was to somehow take over the government through the back door. Delimitation didn’t benefit them.”
Stepping up his attack on the BJP, Omar said, “They never tire of plotting and breaking up parties. In which corner of this country have they not broken up parties? Look at Maharashtra. What have you done to that state? Look at the parties of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Look at the state of West Bengal. What have you done to Mamata Banerjee’s party? The Aam Aadmi Party in our neighbouring state of Punjab. You yourselves boastfully claim that you ran Operation Lotus.”
“We’re accused of entering through the back door, but the real back-door operators are the BJP because they only look for back-door routes to power. ” Wherever they are unable to join the government through the front door, they try to rule through the back door,” Omar alleged.
He alleged that the BJP was running “Operation Lotus” in J&K to split his party. This comes a day after BJP leaders accused Omar Abdullah of misleading people with false allegations that the BJP offered Rs 20 to Rs 30 crore to NC MLAs to switch sides.