abrogation-of-article-370-reversible-omar-abdullah

On Tuesday, JKNC vice president and candidate for the Baramulla LS constituency, Omar Abdullah, said that the government’s 2019 decision to repeal Article 370 is reversible; the main problem is keeping the issue alive.

 

Omar said in an interview with the local media outlet that the decision was purely human-made, and any decision could be reversed provided the issue is kept alive.

 

He said, "Although the Apex Court has upheld the Centre’s decision in its recent verdict, a bench in the future may reverse the decision; who knows what will happen in the future?"

 

Omar added, "The BJP will not continue to be in power for a further period, and their prospects of returning to power after the fifth phase of elections have further decreased.

 

"The BJP will not remain in power forever. We have political parties that agree on this topic. The difficulty for us is to keep the issue alive and wait for the day when we will be able to receive anything back," he said.

 

While responding to a question on the claims of the BJP government that everything is peaceful in the valley, he replied that "it would be unwise to make such a claim, even after seeing repeated terror-related incidents, including recent ones where two tourists were shot and injured and the killing of an ex-Sarpanch in Shopian."

 

“Similarly, the recent poll numbers do not indicate any normalcy that HM and PM are claiming and taking credit for; people who did not vote for decades are voting out of anger against the BJP," said Omar.

 

Contradicting the Centre’s claims, he said, "I held panchayat elections in J&K in 2011, and the turnout was 80–90 per cent. How come I should attribute it and other greater turnouts to Article 370? In reality, the repeal of 370 has resulted in a decrease in participation."

 

Abdullah accused the Prime Minister and BJP leaders of playing sectarian politics and urged him to become a statesman.

 

"At some point, we must stop being politicians and become statesmen. Unfortunately, statesmanship has mostly evaporated in this election. And it's simply raw, horrible politics," he said.

 

The NC leader attacked the Delimitation Commission's decision to redraw the constituency boundaries in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

"In certain constituencies, it has made the task more difficult. The Anantnag parliamentary seat has been entirely split. "You have taken seven constituencies from the other side of the Pir Panjal," he said.

 

Abdullah stated that the redrawing of borders was done solely at the request of the BJP and its partners. "This was done to help the parties backing the BJP in this election. "None of our suggestions were accepted," he added.