Srinagar: Affirming that he has “no bitterness” towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said Wednesday that the incoming government “will have to work toward building a cordial relationship” with the Centre.
The new chief minister will be the leader of all of J&K, not just Kashmir, he said, adding that the elected government in the Union Territory will have to work ‘extra hard to give the people of Jammu a sense of ownership’. In an exclusive interaction with ThePrint, the Jammu Kashmir National Conference (NC) vice president also charted out top priorities for the new government, among them restoration of statehood and Article 370.
Omar also spoke about the equation with INDIA bloc ally Congress, the possibility of a power tussle with the L-G, working with the Centre, dialogue with Pakistan, representation for Jammu, and the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
On government formation following declaration of assembly elections results Tuesday, he said, “We are looking forward to our legislative party meeting. The legislative party is yet to meet and elect a leader.”
“The coalition is yet to choose a leader. So, it would be premature on my part, to answer this question as if that was already a done deal. It’s not, and therefore, we’ll put this question in abeyance until government formation.”
With 42 seats, NC has emerged as the single-largest party in the 90-member House in the first assembly election held in J&K since 2014. Its coalition partners Congress and CPI(M) managed six and one seat, respectively, taking the alliance’s numbers past the majority mark of 46.
Though his father and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah has already declared Omar as the next chief minister, he maintains that the final decision rests with the JK National Conference legislative party.
“It was very kind of him (Farooq Abdullah) to do so. And he reinforced that today. But there is a way these things are done. As president of the party, he is well within his rights to propose a name which he has done through the media now. But ultimately that has to be endorsed and ratified by the legislative party. And I’m never one to presume,” said Omar.
He, however, added that he has “not said no” to leading the state.
For the NC, the assembly elections had turned into a prestige fight, especially after Omar’s loss to Engineer Rashid in Baramulla in the general election in June. Omar announced his decision to contest from not one but two seats in the assembly elections, Ganderbal and Budgam, despite having ruled out the idea of contesting at all in the past. He won both seats.
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On restoration of statehood & Congress
While NC was more forthcoming in its manifesto and promised to pursue restoration of Articles 370 and 35A that granted J&K unique status, its ally Congress chose a more strategic approach and remained silent on the issue.
In conversation with ThePrint, Omar showed firmness in his demand for restoration of statehood for J&K that was demarcated into two Union Territories post the abrogation of Article 370—J&K and Ladakh. Assembly elections in J&K were held subsequent to Centre’s assurance to the Supreme Court last December when the court upheld repeal of Article 370.
“The priorities for Jammu & Kashmir as a whole obviously would be to immediately press the Government of India for restoration of statehood; and then, for the coalition, it would be to work out an agenda for governance and move forward on that,” Omar said.
He added, “Jammu Kashmir was a state prior to 2019, it has been promised statehood by the honourable Prime Minister and other senior ministers like the honourable home minister and therefore I believe that in the not too distant future, Jammu Kashmir will have statehood restored and this aberration that we had over the last few years will be done away with.”
Further, he pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “never said it (statehood) would only be restored to a government in which the BJP was participating; they said Jammu & Kashmir will get statehood back.”
According to him, the first order of business for the incoming government will be to pass a resolution on the demand for restoration of statehood. This resolution, said Omar, could be taken by the chief minister to the Centre.
He also dismissed the argument that the elected government in J&K cannot demand restoration of Article 370 since powers to legislate on the issue rest with Parliament. “Why is it that we can’t talk about things that are the domain of the Centre? Of course we can talk about them. They are part and parcel of National Conference’s political ideology. Article 370 remains part of our political ideology. We’re not sacrificing it,” he asserted.
Adding, “That said, we’re also not in the business of befooling people.”
Omar admitted that restoration of Article 370 will be a long-drawn process, but it would not deter the National Conference from taking up the issue with the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
“Therefore, to expect that just because now an elected government is in place in J&K that suddenly we will be able to convince Modi sahab that what he did in 2019 was wrong, is not going to happen. But the National Conference is committed to keeping this issue alive, working on the assumption that these people will not be in power forever tomorrow. Who’s to say that a government in Delhi won’t be more receptive to discussing this, and that’s what we’ll wait for,” he said, laying out NC’s strategy.
Asked about ally Congress’s decision not to take a firm stand on restoration of Article 370 in its election manifesto, Omar replied: “Different parties have different ideologies.”
“There are things the Congress says that I don’t agree with. There are things we say that they don’t agree with, which is why I said we’ll frame an agenda for governance. I don’t expect my political ideology to be subsumed into the Congress party’s, and nor do I expect theirs to be subsumed into ours.
“We are two distinct political parties; we have two distinct identities and ideologies, and that’s the way it will be.”
On possibility of power tussle with L-G
On the possibility of a power tussle between J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the newly elected government, Omar said he would prefer to wait and watch how the relationship unfolds before commenting on it.
“Look, we haven’t even started yet and already people are seeing conflict,” he remarked, referring to the row over appointment of five MLAs by the L-G.
Many opposition parties have raised apprehensions that the system of governance in J&K may end up looking like the one in Delhi where the Centre-appointed L-G and the elected government are constantly in a state of standoff. Similarly, the existing framework in J&K allows for public order and law enforcement to fall under the domain of the L-G.
“Let’s wait. There is no doubt that this is a new experience for us, but I also hope that it’s a temporary one,” Omar said, adding that circumstances in J&K are different from Delhi’s. “Delhi was never promised statehood, it has never been a state. Delhi has always had this sort of unique model.”
The former Union minister disagreed with the view that the newly elected assembly would be the weakest one in J&K’s history, with the chair of chief minister having been reduced to that of a “glorified mayor”. The statement was made by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti last week.
Reacting to the statement, Omar explained, “That’s not true. There are more than enough sort of departments and powers that are vested with the state from amongst the state powers. There are only a handful that have been taken. The concurrent list is entirely with the L-G, but the state list minus one or two things is with the state government.”
Adding, “So, it’s not as if the state government will not decide anything. It won’t decide as much as it should do, which is why I keep saying that this is not the assembly we deserve. But this assembly will get us to that point, and I keep making this point. This is a temporary phase.”
On Modi & working with Centre
Omar said he had moved past the high-voltage BJP campaign that saw Modi launch a scathing attack on ‘dynastic parties’, including the NC.
“I have no bitterness towards PM Modi. Modi sahab is the Prime Minister of India. He’s the Prime Minister of 140 crore Indians. Elections by their very nature sort of bring differences to the fore. If you were all on the same wavelength and all on the same page, then why would you be fighting elections against each other? It’s because we’re not on the same wavelength that we fight elections against each other,” Omar told ThePrint.
He added that he is of the firm belief that one should not latch on to whatever is said during the course of an election campaign. “…going ahead, the government of Jammu & Kashmir and the government of the Union of India will have to work towards building a cordial relationship, keeping in mind the federal structure of the country; and definitely on the part of the National Conference and this alliance I would push for that,” said Omar.
Asked about his view on External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar’s two-day visit to Islamabad to attend the Heads of Government (HoG) meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) later this month, Omar reiterated his stance on resumption of dialogue with Pakistan.
“He (Jaishankar) is still going to Pakistan. That’s a start. It’s a start I’ll take from no talks at all to no visits at all to now the external affairs minister travelling to Pakistan. It’s a start. It’s a small step. And in this, in this very difficult relationship, it will always be baby steps. So, we welcome the first step and we’ll go forward from there,” he said.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stated that Jaishankar’s visit will not involve any bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
On representation for Jammu
While the BJP emerged as the strongest political force in Jammu and NC in the Kashmir Valley, Omar said he did not view the assembly elections results as a split verdict.
“There is no split verdict. The verdict is very clear. The (NC-Congress) alliance has won. It is true that the alliance hasn’t got as many seats from Jammu as we would have liked. That said, I have made this point very clear.
“As far as I’m concerned. This government that will be formed in the next few days is the government of Jammu & Kashmir. It’s not the government of Kashmir. It’s not the government of National Conference. It’s not the government of alliance. It’s the government of every single citizen of Jammu & Kashmir. Whether they voted for this alliance or not, whether they voted at all or not,” said Omar Abdullah.
He added that the NC, along with its coalition partners, will work extra hard to give the people of Jammu a sense of ownership or belonging as well as a voice in government.
On Kashmiri Pandits
During his conversation with ThePrint, Omar also reiterated that the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits is an issue very important to him. But since the same would involve security concerns, the plan, if any, he said, would fall within the jurisdiction of the L-G.
“Kashmiri Pandits left because their sense of security was taken away from them. They felt insecure here. They will not come back until that sense of security is restored, until J&K gets statehood. Security is a matter for the L-G. We will, of course, facilitate his efforts. We will help his efforts.
“But at the end of the day, it is the L-G that is responsible to ensure that the sort of terror attacks we see in Jammu, they are stopped and that the security situation remains calm,” he added.
“That said, I think it is also important that this has to be done in an atmosphere of cooperation. You can’t do it by terrorising people. You can’t do it by scaring people. You can’t do it by constantly arresting people or by weaponising the CID department and police verifications and things like that. And therefore we will obviously try our best to work together with the L-G to ensure that things move smoothly,” said Omar.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)