Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s cabinet, in its first meeting, has approved the proposal to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, but remained silent on the restoration of special status. Opponents of the National Conference (NC) have accused it of collusion with the BJP for this. “The draft has been ready and the CM will go to New Delhi in a few days to submit it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to restore statehood,” a source said.
Omar’s ally and Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra has already announced that his party will not join the cabinet until statehood is restored. Meanwhile, PDP youth president and Pulwama MLA Waheed Para wrote in a post on Twitter, “Omar Abdullah’s first proposal on statehood is nothing less than a support for the decision of August 5, 2019. There is no proposal on Article 370. Limiting the demands to statehood is a big blow. He had sought votes from the public on the promise of restoring Article 370.”
Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid accused Omar Abdullah of playing into the hands of BJP. Let us tell you that earlier Omar Abdullah had called Rashid a pawn of BJP. He had alleged that Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) candidates had been fielded to divide the votes. Now, Rashid alleged that NC won its 42 seats because it got strategic help from BJP.
“The NC has promised to fight against Article 370, but Omar is deviating from the main issues by focusing only on restoring statehood,” Rasheed said. The MP said that since PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have already promised statehood, emphasizing on this issue while ignoring other issues is tantamount to betrayal by the new CM.
Rashid claimed that Omar had recently talked about restoring the special status. “I want to ask him whether Kashmiris should wait for 100 years if BJP remains in power till then,” Rasheed said.
People’s Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajjad Lone argued that the resolution should have been passed in the Assembly instead of the Cabinet. He said, “As per my knowledge, the Assembly is the appropriate institution to address major issues like statehood or Article 370. The will of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is reflected in the Assembly, not in the Cabinet. The Cabinet is a majoritarian institution. ”
