SRINAGAR: Former J&K Chief Minister and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) President Farooq Abdullah will lead the National Congress’s statehood protest in New Delhi on Monday as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has cut short his Delhi stay.
He is returning to Jammu in view of heavy flash floods in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri that killed 12.
"Amid the weather warning put out by the meteorological department and the seriousness of the situation unfolding across parts of Jammu division, I will leave Delhi to fly to Jammu this afternoon to personally monitor the situation on the ground. The statehood protest will go ahead under the leadership of @JKNC_ President Dr Farooq Abdullah as planned,” CM Omar posted on X.
After Omar’s announcement that Farooq Abdullah will lead NC’s statehood protest, the Opposition Peoples Conference president and MLA Sajad Lone, in a sarcastic post on X, said, “Papa will protest in Delhi, and Baba will behave and be a good boy in Jammu.”
Reacting to Lone’s remarks, NC spokesman and CM’s close aide Tanvir Sadiq said, “If you politicise a Chief Minister’s decision to stand with people as they mourn their dead and grapple with the devastation caused by flash floods, you’ve lost sight of basic humanity.”
"Statehood is our collective responsibility, and the CM has led that fight. But as the head of the government, it is equally his responsibility to be with those affected in their darkest hour. Politics should never be played on the dead. Period,” he said.
The NC has announced a protest at Jantar Mantar on July 20, the opening day of parliament’s monsoon session, to press the Centre to restore statehood to J&K.
However, the party has not yet received permission for the protest from the Delhi government.
The NC has invited 56 leaders of the country, including the Congress chief and heads of other political parties.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Hurriyat Conference chairman and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and J&K’s Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam have also been invited to participate in the protest.
While Congress has decided to attend the NC’s protest in Delhi, Kashmir-based parties PDP, J&K Apni Party and Peoples Conference have refused to attend the Delhi protest, claiming that the NC has normalised the BJP’s agenda by talking about statehood restoration and pushing the demand for Article 370 restoration to the backburner.
According to NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar, attempts by PDP, Apni Party and Peoples Conference to blame us for ‘normalising’ the BJP's agenda are nothing but political diversions aimed at misleading the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
”The fact is that the Omar Abdullah government passed a resolution in the Legislative Assembly seeking the restoration of J&K's special constitutional rights, making its position absolutely clear. Instead of joining the collective demand for the restoration of statehood, which continues to be denied by the BJP despite its repeated promises, PDP, Apni Party and PC are trying to divert attention through baseless accusations,” Dar posted on X.
He said NC has never abandoned its commitment to the restoration of constitutional rights.
"J&K deserves both, and we remain firmly committed to achieving both through democratic and constitutional means,” he added.
Coincidentally, the disgruntled National Conference MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi would also not participate in the party’s proposed Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest.
"I have made it clear that I am not joining the protest. Our responsibility is to fight for Article 370 because it is linked to our identity and dignity. People gave us a mandate for Article 370, not for statehood," Ruhullah said.
The firebrand MP has been sidelined by the party over his firm stand on Article 370 restoration.
According to Ruhullah, political discourse towards statehood suited the BJP's agenda.
“Statehood is BJP’s agenda, and they want to talk about it to normalise the status quo. Through this (statehood), the status quo is normalised. The BJP's agenda is to forget everything and only talk about statehood," he added.
Meanwhile, J&K BJP has postponed its Secretariat gherao protest for Monday.
"In view of the flood situation in Poonch and Rajouri, BJP Jammu & Kashmir has postponed its Secretariat Gherao march at Lal Chowk, Srinagar, on 20 July," a party spokesperson, Altaf Thakur, said.
The BJP had called a Secretariat gherao in Srinagar on July 20 to protest backdoor appointments and outsourcing of jobs by the Omar government to counter the NC's Delhi protest for statehood restoration on the day.
