National Conference (JKNC) President Farooq Abdullah
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Srinagar:

Jammu and Kashmir will not benefit from an “antagonistic relationship” with the BJP-led central government, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah told NDTV Tuesday evening, shortly after his party and the Congress won the 2024 J&K Assembly election – the first in a decade.

Mr Abdullah – who will become Chief Minister for a second time, having already received the support of his father and party patriarch Farooq Abdullah – also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil his promise and restore statehood stripped five years ago after the scrapping of Article 370.

Restoration of statehood was a key poll plank for the NC-Congress alliance.

“An Honourable PM” 

“The PM is an honourable man… he promised the people of J&K statehood and I hope he lives up to that,” Mr Abdullah told NDTV, playing down a suggestion this could be delayed since the BJP – as it had hoped to after the Prime Minister’s announcement on statehood – did not win this election.

“Nowhere has the BJP ever said – first there will be our government and then statehood. The PM never said that. People of J&K have spoken and I hope the Prime Minister will now be magnanimous and restore statehood at the earliest,” he said, referring also to a Supreme Court ruling.

READ | In Historic J&K Ruling, Supreme Court Sets Election Deadline

“We don’t call him ‘honourable’ Prime Minister for nothing,” Mr Abdullah said.

Mr Abdullah also said the election result is a rejection of the scrapping of Article 370.

READ |Statehood, Empowerment, Development: PM’s Promise in Srinagar

In December last year the court, while setting the Election Commission a September 30 deadline to conduct this election, also said steps should be taken to restore statehood at the earliest.

And in June this year Mr Modi, speaking days after being sworn in for a third successive term, said, “That day is not far… when Jammu and Kashmir can decide its own future as a state.”

He repeated that promise at an election rally in Srinagar, saying, “We promised in Parliament that we will restore J&K’s statehood and the BJP will fulfil this commitment.”

Centre-J&K Relationship

On the incoming J&K government’s relationship with New Delhi, Mr Abdullah said the union territory is at a crucial stage in its economic and social development, and called on the centre’s support.

“I believe the new (J&K) government must have a healthy working relationship with the union government. I hope they (the BJP) realises J&K is at a very crucial stage and does not play politics.”

Mr Abdullah acknowledged the need to rebuild the relationship between the BJP and J&K, particularly the Kashmir region that voted overwhelmingly against the saffron party. He also red-flagged the difficult relationship with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, whose expected nomination of five members to the J&K Assembly drew scathing criticism from the NC and other parties.

He also called on Mr Sinha to play his part in the repair of ties.

“There is a need for some relationship building… there is currently no relation between the incumbent and the Governor. J&K will not benefit if the LG decides to be antagonistic…”

Consequent to that discussion, Mr Abdullah also highlighted a key challenge for the new government – “to give a sense of the ownership to voters from Jammu… who did not vote for the NC-Congress”.

“I believe, when statehood is restored, the government must also move to restore the legislative council. We must give representation to all,” he said, including Kashmiri Pandits in his appeal.

“Reason To Smile”

On the overall result – the NC won 42 seats – Mr Abdullah declared, “There is ample reason to smile. We have done well… better than we expected…” and congratulated party leaders and workers.

“I am grateful for every seat we have… yes, we could be greedy and say ‘we want 10 more… 15 more. But we got these number of seats and we are thankful for each,” he said.

READ | National Conference, Congress’ Thump BJP In 1st J&K Poll In Decade

Mr Abdullah also hit out, again, at exit pollsters who predicted a hung Assembly.

Omar Abdullah also had reason to smile for his own election results; he contested and won the Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly seats, each by significant margins. This comes after a setback in the Lok Sabha election, in which he lost Baramulla – by over two lakh votes – to ‘engineer’ Rashid.

“Baramulla was an aberration and I have proven it. This wasn’t an easy campaign… for me, personally, it was a difficult election as it came on the back of a defeat,” he said.

“People Have Expectations”

Looking forward, Mr Abdullah said, “The burden of expectations is something we have come to realise over the course of years. The people have expectations and we have to deliver.”

“Some things – the reference was to restoration of statehood – we will start work on immediately.”

There are people who may have voted for the National Conference for the first time, he also pointed out, emphasising, “It is our responsibility to live up to their expectations.”

Will He Be Chief Minister?

Earlier today NC boss Farooq Abdullah declared “Omar Abdullah banega Chief Minister”.

Speaking to NDTV Omar Abdullah played down any assumption of that sort, saying the legislative party would take that decision and said, ‘doctor saab’, referring to his father, was “very kind”.

On Congress’ Diminished Role

The NC will head the new J&K government but much of the post-poll analysis will also focus on the Congress’ dismal showing. In the 2014 election the party won 12 seats. This time it got only six.

Mr Abdullah, however, refrained from commenting on his ally’s performance or offering advice, saying only that the Congress has “a number of reasons to do soul-searching”, particularly with elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand still to come this year, and Delhi voting early next year.

“It is not for me to advise the Congress. It is for them to take stock for what happened. They have people who can analyse and take corrective measures,” he said.

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Jammu:

As people await the date for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Sunday that, as the Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Parliament, there will be delimitation first, then assembly election and then statehood at the appropriate time.

He added that things are going in that sequence.

“When PM Narendra Modi came to Srinagar on June 20, he announced that elections would be held soon. A team of the Election Commission visited here and met all the stakeholders. The Election Commission will announce the date of the elections. As the Union Home Minister said in the Parliament on August 5, delimitation first, then assembly election, then statehood at the appropriate time. Things are going on in that sequence. I hope the assembly elections will be held soon,” LG Sinha said.

The Jammu and Kashmir LG also inaugurated the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre at the University of Jammu today.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Friday that the Election Commission is “committed” to conducting polls in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible, adding that the people of J-K will give a befitting response to “disruptive forces.”

CEC further said that all parties in Jammu and Kashmir are “batting strongly” for holding assembly elections.

There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies, of which 74 are General, nine are ST and seven are SC.

In Jammu and Kashmir, there are 87.09 lakh total electors. Of which 44.46 lakh are male, 42.62 female, 169 are Transgender, 82,590 PwDs, 73943 very senior citizens, 2660 centenarians, 76092 service electors, and 3.71 lakh are first-time voters.

In December of last year, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of ten years, as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then-Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Srinagar:

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday said restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is not an issue for his party in the Lok Sabha polls, asserting that it will get the statehood anyway in view of commitment by the prime minister and the Union home minister.

Mr Abdullah also said the results of the Lok Sabha polls will have an impact on the upcoming assembly elections in the Union territory.

“Statehood is not an issue for us. Our battle is not for statehood, we will get the statehood anyway. Why should we waste people’s time on an issue that the PM and the home minister are committed to?” Mr Abdullah told reporters in Kupwara district where he was campaigning.

The former chief minister is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla which will vote on May 20.

“If this government somehow comes back to power, which seems increasingly impossible now, they are committed to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. If the government changes, which we are hoping for, our effort will be that we get full statehood before the assembly elections take place,” he added.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha in December last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had assured the country that full statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time.

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on transformation of Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370, Mr Abdullah said the BJP should have fielded their own candidates in Kashmir if that were the case.

“If there has been so much (positive) change in J-K, why have they not fielded a party candidate in Kashmir? What is the need for contesting the elections through proxy candidates? They should have fielded their own candidates. Maybe, we would have lost our security deposit. Who would have voted for us when BJP candidates had been there!” he added.

In response to a question, the NC leader said the results of the Lok Sabha elections will have an impact on assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir which are to be held before September 2024 in view of the directions of the Supreme Court.

“There will be an impact on assembly elections because there are not even two months left. This election will finish in June and we are hopeful that in August-September there will be assembly elections,” he said.

The NC leader said the party campaign in the ongoing polls is not focusing on development but the political issue with the Centre.

“We will talk about development but this election is not about development. When we know that within two months assembly elections will happen, the NC manifesto and its candidates will be more focused on development. In this election, we are more focused on the political issue with the Centre,” he added.

On jailed politician Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid, Mr Abdullah questioned the justification for keeping the former MLA in jail for so long when the charges have not been framed against him.

“I don’t know if his bail application is pending…if it is not, he should apply for bail. As far as I know, charges have not been framed against him. He has been in jail for a long time now.

“If you have not been able to frame charges against him for so long, then there is no justification to keep him in jail. Everyone knows who is behind Engineer Rashid’s arrest. If the government (at the Centre) changes in June and our government is formed (here) in September, this process of arrests will be ended,” he said.

On speculation that PDP has supported the candidature of Rashid in the Baramulla constituency, Mr Abdullah said the rival party has refuted these claims.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The people of Jammu and Kashmir after living in a period of normalcy following the scrapping of special status to the erstwhile state feel encouraged to seek a true democracy, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told NDTV in an interview.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s April 12 speech in Udhampur in the Union Territory about restoring statehood and holding a state election, Mr Singh said it is the Opposition’s false portrayal of the ground situation in the border state that is misleading people.

Udhampur, where voting was held on April 19, is Mr Singh’s Lok Sabha constituency.

“Elections had been happening for decades in Jammu and Kashmir, but with a very small voting percentage. It was a travesty of democracy that we had a voting percentage of just about 10 per cent. People would elect MPs and MLAs, particularly from Kashmir valley, and they would go on becoming MPs, MLAs, ministers, generations after generation,” the Union Minister of Science and Technology told NDTV.

“They have now cultivated a vested interest in the continuance of militancy. In the shadow of militancy and terrorism, they can have close elections with a limited voter turnout which would of course be managed by them, and then they would manage their victory, election after election,” Mr Singh said, in what was also seen as taking a swipe at dynastic politics.

The Abdullah family of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference had been a strong political force in the region.

“Now that it (Jammu and Kashmir) has opened up, I think this is in the true spirit of democracy that we have a huge turnout, which also happened in the District Development Council (DDC) election,” Mr Singh said.

The DDC election was held after the centre in August 2019 scrapped special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.

“We had a huge voter turnout (DDC elections) even in Kashmir valley. The situation has dramatically turned for the better. The most evident proof of that is the fact that we had more than two crore tourists in Kashmir valley. No tourist would risk their family just by assurance handed out by the government, or by a travel agency unless they get information from their own sources,” Mr Singh said, adding that is what has encouraged and emboldened the common man on the streets of Kashmir valley to come out and aspire for true democracy.

Srinagar:

The Centre is likely to provide a timeframe on restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood to the Supreme Court today, more than four years after the state was converted into a Union Territory.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta will make a statement before a constitution bench of the Supreme Court which is currently hearing a batch of pleas challenging the revocation of Article 370 under which Jammu and Kashmir had a special constitutional status.

On Tuesday, Mr Mehta had told the top court that he will make a “positive statement” on Thursday after he was asked to take instructions from the government and return with a timeframe for restoring the statehood.

“I have taken instructions. The instructions are that Union Territory (of Jammu and Kashmir) is not a permanent feature. I will make a positive statement the day after tomorrow. Ladakh will remain a UT,” he had told the court.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Of India, DY Chandrachud, is conducting daily hearings of petitions.

In its last hearing on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had laid emphasis on the need to restore democracy in J&K, which has been without an elected government since June 2018.

“Can you convert a State into a UT? And can a UT be carved out of a State. Also, when elections could be held? This has to come an end… give us the specific time frame as to when will you restore actual democracy. We want to record this, ” the court had told Mr Mehta.

The Chief Justice, while acknowledging national security concerns, also insisted on restoration of democracy in the region, which has been directly administered by the central government since 2018.

The attorney general and solicitor general are among the battery of senior lawyers who are defending Centre’s decision while senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Rajeev Dhavan and several other top lawyers are appearing for the petitioners.

So far, at the heart of the arguments, is if due process was followed while abrogating Article 370 and dividing state into two union territories- J&K and Ladakh.

Leaders and petitioners from Ladakh have expressed their disappointment over The Solicitor General’s statement that Ladakh will remain a Union Territory. Over the last two years, there have been massive protests in Ladakh demanding statehood for the region.

After scrapping Article 370 in August 2019, the Modi government had assured that it will restore statehood at an appropriate time. Home Minister Amit Shah has reiterated the same but no deadline has been set for such a move.