New Delhi: The Indian government’s response to what happened in Israel and the subsequent “demolition” of Gaza is linked to the BJP’s politics and its belief that it doesn’t feel the need to address any of the sentiments that prevail in the Muslim world, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has said.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Of South Asia in the national capital Friday evening, National Conference vice-president Omar condemned Hamas for its “terror attack” on Israel that “slaughtered” innocent people while also criticising Tel Aviv for its bombardment of Gaza.
“Make no mistake. I don’t carry any sort of torch or agenda for Hamas or what they did. What they did was a terror attack. They slaughtered innocent people. There can be no justification for that. But in the same breath… flattening Gaza… there can be no justification for that either,“ he said.
Drawing a comparison to the Modi government’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war, Omar called India’s reaction to the Israel-Gaza conflict “one-sided”.
“You have two conflicts raging in the world right now. In one we have remained somewhat neutral and on the other, where an element of neutrality would have been expected, we have absolutely gone one–sided,” he said.
Omar referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Thursday call with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas as “back-pedalling” on India’s original support only to Israel.
“I think the statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (about India’s position on a two-state solution to the Palestine issue) and the subsequent phone call by the prime minister between him and the leader of the Palestine government was more an element of back-pedalling because of the furious reaction in the Middle East. Subdued at the moment but definitely (sic), it is there at the ground at the way that India has reacted to this,” he said.
When asked if the opposition’s 26-party INDIA bloc — which his National Conference is part of — has reached out to any leaders in the Arab world, Omar denied any discussion on the topic since the alliance was busy over seat-sharing troubles in Madhya Pradesh between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress.
He was referring to cracks in the bloc after the Congress refused to accommodate the SP as an alliance partner in Madhya Pradesh in the 17 November assembly polls in the state.
“There has been no conversation within the INDIA alliance on what is happening in Palestine or Israel. Everyone has been caught up with the factionalism that has emerged within the alliance on seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh etc. As an alliance we haven’t had any conversation amongst ourselves,” said Omar.
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On ‘lack of clarity’ in INDIA bloc
More fissures have appeared in the opposition bloc after the Congress’s MP unit led by Kamal Nath and the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party clashed over seat-sharing in the upcoming state assembly polls. The disagreement has prompted the SP chief to threaten to extend the Congress a “tit-for-tat” response in Uttar Pradesh in next year’s parliamentary election.
Asked how the NC plans to go forward with the INDIA bloc in light of next year’s parliamentary elections, Omar said the party was a “very small player”. He also admitted that the alliance had hit a few “stumbling blocks”.
“(First) let’s try doing something in Madhya Pradesh, UP, and places like that. We (INDIA) seem to be falling apart in UP today. Everyone is announcing that they are going to fight all 80 (of UP’s parliamentary seats),” Omar said.
He put the current troubles in the party down to “a lack of clarity”.
“We (INDIA alliance) started well. We put the government on the back foot, particularly with the choice of name and other things like that. But we seem to have hit a few serious stumbling blocks. The absence of clarity as to whether the INDIA alliance was just for parliament or was also to include these five states, I think, caught us rather short,” Omar told the audience.
When ThePrint asked if there was a possible state-level alliance for the assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir, Omar remained non-committal. “When we have an election, we’ll sit down and talk. Let’s see what sort of space there is. Again, I make the point that nowhere in the INDIA alliance has any state-level election been tackled,” he said.
Significantly, parties like Omar’s NC, Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and even the Jammu and Kashmir unit of Modi’s BJP have been asking for assembly polls in the Union territory.
The last assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir took place in 2014 when it was still a state.
No future for separatist politics in J&K
Omar also spoke about the politics of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in light of the central government’s reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution.
On 5 August, 2019, the Modi government read down the provision that, along with Article 35 of the Constitution of India, gave special status to J&K. It also bifurcated the then-state into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Speaking about the future of politics in J&K, Omar said that the developments after 2019 may have ended separatist politics in the state.
“I think the question about the future of mainstream politics has been put to rest in more than one way since 2019. Mainstream politics is perhaps the only politics that you will see in Jammu & Kashmir because you certainly don’t see any separatist politics any longer,” he claimed. “Even erstwhile separatist leaders are seriously contemplating either directly joining the political arena or if not directly, then indirectly throwing their weight behind the process. You will see far more mainstream politics.”
He, however, cautioned that this doesn’t mean separatist sentiments don’t exist in pockets of the Kashmir valley.
“Let’s not believe that separatist or separatist sentiment in Jammu and Kashmir has completely died. Yes, it was represented by an organisation called Hurriyat, which is now in dormancy. But the sentiment is still there,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)