Srinagar: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he should focus on the “deteriorating” security situation in Jammu and Kashmir instead of raising the issue of dynastic politics. Earlier in the day, while addressing an election rally in support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates in Doda district, Modi had said political dynasties in Jammu and Kashmir have destroyed the region and have not allowed new leadership to emerge. Hitting back at Prime Minister Modi, the NC vice-president said the BJP has no qualms in forging an alliance with these parties.
The National Conference vice-president questioned the prime minister’s “silence” over the martyrdom of two soldiers during an encounter in Kishtwar. “The prime minister gave a speech in Doda… it has not been even 24 hours since the attack in Kishtwar in which two brave army personnel were martyred during an encounter in north Kashmir,” Omar Abdullah told reporters in Kulgam district of south Kashmir. “He talks about dynasty to mislead people. He should have talked about the current situation,” he said.
He said that when Article 370 was repealed on August 5, 2019, the people of the country were told that the violence in Kashmir was due to the special status and after it (special status) was removed, the effect of the gun (terrorism) would ‘end’. The NC leader said, “Five years have passed, but (terrorist) encounters are still going on.” Prime Minister Modi had attacked the National Conference, Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for dynastic politics. When asked about this, Omar Abdullah said that the BJP does not see anything wrong in forming an alliance with these parties to come to power.
“When the BJP needed one of these families, we were not responsible for the destruction (of Jammu and Kashmir). When the BJP had an alliance with the PDP, it found nothing wrong with the PDP. When (former prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee had to make a minister and he chose me, there was nothing wrong with us. Now during the elections, they say we are wrong,” Abdullah said. The National Conference leader claimed that if the BJP does not have the required numbers to form a government after the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections and the PDP decides to support it, “then they (BJP) will find nothing wrong in it.”
