Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the opposition INDIA block is currently on ‘life support’ and may soon end up in ‘ICU’ due to internal feuds and failure to counter the BJP’s ever-functioning election machinery.
Speaking at an event in Delhi, Abdullah detailed the ‘organisational and strategic weaknesses’ of the opposition alliance and compared them with the BJP’s ‘unmatchable’ way of working. He said, “We are on life support right now. Sometimes someone comes and gives us a shock, and we recover. But then Bihar-like results come, and we collapse again. And then someone has to take us to the ICU.”
‘We ourselves pushed Nitish Kumar back into NDA’
Abdullah also blamed the INDIA block for Nitish Kumar’s return to the NDA. He said, “I think we ourselves pushed Nitish Kumar towards NDA.” He also termed the decision to deliberately keep out Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) during seat sharing in Bihar as a big mistake, even though the party had a presence in the state.
‘We fight elections as if it doesn’t matter to us’
Comparing the methods of fighting elections, Abdullah said the opposition’s structure and thinking cannot stand against the BJP’s disciplined electoral style. He said, “They have an election machine that has no match. Not just in terms of organization or funding, but their way of working for elections is also extraordinary. They fight every election as if their lives depend on it. We sometimes fight as if we don’t even care.”
‘As soon as one election is over, they move to the next state’
Abdullah also mentioned the 24×7 politics model of Prime Minister Modi and his team. “As soon as one election is over, they move to the next state,” he said. “We come two months before the elections, and it would be a big deal if the alliance is finalized well before the last date for nominations.” Regarding future strategy, he said that if the opposition wants to challenge BJP, then it will have to unite around its largest party – Congress, because apart from BJP, only Congress is present in the entire country. He further said that regional parties are limited to their geographical boundaries, so “the main responsibility will have to be borne by the Congress.”
