Responding to the remarks of Home Minister Amit Shah on the manifesto of National Conference (NC) and its alliance with the Congress, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday appreciated Shah for putting the NC’s manifesto at the centre-stage by critically reacting to it.

Omar said that although the Home Minister focused on only one para, he forced everyone to read our manifesto.

Advertisement

Omar’s remarks came after Shah posed ten questions to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and also sought the party’s clarification on various issues due to the electoral alliance between the Congress and the NC.

Omar regretted that questions have been raised that names of some religious in Srinagar places will be changed if the NC-Cong alliance comes to power.

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi over the alliance, Shah said that the Congress “repeatedly risked the country’s unity and security to quench its greed for power.”

Shah also raised questions about the stance of Congress on NC’s promise of restoration of Article 370 and 35A.

Commenting on reports of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami planning to field its candidates as independents in the assembly elections, Omar said “the best part of democracy is that anyone can contest elections.”

The Jamaat was trying to get the ban on it revoked before elections were announced in J&K. However this did not happen and now there are reports that they will contest as independents.

The government had banned the Jamaat in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for a period of five years.
Earlier speaking at a function in Ganderbal, Omar said “Our opponents divided us, weakening our voice. If we had stayed united, we would still have our own flag and special status.