EditorialOmar's eroding acceptability

Omar’s eroding acceptability

Date:

The dreadful terror attack on the CRPF convoy by the militants, wherein eight CRPF men were killed and over two dozen others critically injured at Pampore in , was followed by the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's “…I feel ashamed as a Muslim that such an incident happened during Ramzan that is observed for piety and penance..” remark. The ones with sane and secular mindset in Kashmir took a positive connotation of the remark and lauded the Mehbooba for calling a spade a spade.

The reactions of the National Conference leaders led by former Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah was irresponsible and unbecoming of broadly acceptable leader. NC tried a communal swing by going all guns blazing on the Chief Minister's remarks by calling it shameful to link terrorism to Islam.

The National Conference leaders condemned the Chief Minister's submission by measuring it to their own dimwits or as they had been doing since the day this political party was formed. This could be endorsed by the fact that the mere existence of the so called Jammu Kashmir-Conundrum links back to the times of Sheikh Abdullah's egotistically selfish twitches to suit his fancies.

The National Conference's ‘pseudo' secular or ‘selectively' secular cover has been blown in the past more than a few times now, especially from the horse's mouth. Omar Abdullah's relentless and hyper remarks that “He is a Muslim first…” at the floor of Parliament really exposed his mindset and his opting for being identified as a leader of Kashmiri Muslims only during the Shri Amarnath Shrine row and the agitation that followed in 2008. His sectarian remarks stunned one and all in the country and more particularly in Jammu region amidst shameless thumping of desks by the Congress, Leftists, JD (U), Samajwadi Party etc. who always believed to appease Kashmir centric viewpoint. It was gruesome to be coming out of a leader of his stature who was assigned a great job by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be his Minister of State for 's Foreign Affairs.

But Omar Abdullah lost all legitimacy to reclaim a secular image thereafter. It is only the flawed limitation of more number of Assembly seats in Kashmir over the legitimate claim of Jammu region, that is bigger and larger in terms of geographical and remote area, population with less developed communication infrastructure etc., which always tilts political weight in favour of Kashmir politician to head the government. Jammu political main stream always plays second fiddle to Kashmir.

One can easily find out the secular and communal credentials of polity on both sides of Pir Panchal. People of Jammu soon forgot the sectarian aerobics of Omar Abdullah and his National Conference to an extent that they even voted for this Pro-Kashmir party in Hindu dominated bastions of Nagrota and Bishnah, not carried away by Omar's petty acts. Meaning, the people of Jammu were more secular in their approach to have chosen NC candidates in Hindu dominated Jammu. Earlier, the people of Jammu region had been showing similar electoral responses in favour of National Conference in other constituencies. On the narrow political plane of Jammu Kashmir, in the last elections, the Jammu voters of Bishnah and Nagrota Constituency gave mandate to National Conference leaders entrusting them for voicing their concerns. The voters in Bishnah and Nagrota must be hiding their face for electing nominees of NC who has been taking parochial stands on the issues like – temple desecration, demanding registering of cases against Jammu youth who protested against the desecration, supporting lifting of PSA on the particular miscreant who desecrated the place of worship by declaring him lunatic before any medical report and above all by drawing comparisons Jammu versus Kashmir on many occasions.

Given the current and the past trends, the NC leaders' performance for the cause of Jammu has remained murkier in the Assembly.

Attributing communal overtones to the Chief Minister's metaphorical and emotional statement, while paying tributes and laying wreath on the mortal remains of the martyred CRPF soldiers, was bad and a cheap shot by Omar Abdullah and his party.

How he forgot Dr. Farooq Abdullah's statement during JK Assembly election campaign that ‘those who will vote for BJP will be drowned …..” that evoked sharp reaction across the country. It was Omar's lieutenant, Devinder Singh Rana who took refuge under the phrase on the TV channels, ‘this was simply a metaphor, and Dr. Abdullah did not mean it.”

Northlines
Northlines
The Northlines is an independent source on the Web for news, facts and figures relating to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and its neighbourhood.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Popular

More like this
Related

Arvind Kejriwal’s ED Custody Extended Till April 1

New Delhi, Mar 28: A court here on Thursday...

Ex-Army Chief VK Singh Sabotaged Revocation Of AFSPA In J-K, Alleges Omar Abdullah

SOPORE (J&K), Mar 28: National Conference (NC) vice president...

Notification Issued For Jammu Lok Sabha Seat

JAMMU, Mar 28: Notification for the Jammu Lok Sabha...