SRINAGAR — National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah Wednesday said the results of the Assembly elections prove that the majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir have not endorsed the Centre’s decision of revocation of the special status of the erstwhile state.
“Clearly, it (mandate) was not in favour of that decision. Had it been, then the BJP would have won. The majority of the people of J&K have not endorsed what was done on August 5, 2019. That is a fact. We were not consulted, and we were not part of that decision. But we will now move forward and see what we can do,” Abdullah told PTI Videos here.
The NC vice president said his party will not side-step its political agenda.
“NC’s political agenda or ideology does not change from election to election. We are committed to our political agenda, believing that what was promised to J&K at the time of accession is our birth-right,” he said.
However, Abdullah said he was realistic and knew that restoration of Article 370 was not going to happen in the term of this government.
“They are the ones who took it from us. Farooq (Abdullah) has time and again said it is a long battle, it can take 100 years, but we will keep the issue alive. But we have to focus on other things also. This was not a single-issue election, we fought this election on multiple points. We owe it to the people to work towards that,” he added.
Asked if the party would approach the court for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, the NC leader said, “I do not want to get into that right now.”
“I do not want to start this sort of new relationship by issuing threats and talking about court cases. I believe statehood is a right for J&K and it should be given. Let us not get into if they do not give, what you will do. We will cross the bridge when we get to it. I hope statehood is not a matter of fight and that it is given to J&K,” he said.
On the government formation, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J&K said the meeting of the NC’s legislative party would take place on Thursday.
“Then there will have to be an alliance meeting because we have to go to the LG with letters of support. Once we have the leadership of the alliance settled, once we have letters of support in place, I assume that person will go to the Raj Bhavan to meet the LG and ask him to fix a time for swearing-in,” he said.
When asked who the next chief minister would be, Abdullah said that is for the legislative party to decide. “We will leave it to them,” he said.
To a question whether there would be a deputy CM from the Congress, he said, “That is for the incoming CM to decide whether they want to have a deputy CM or not, or where he will come from, that he or she will decide.”
He, however, said whoever becomes the chief minister “will have challenges”.
“This is a learning experience for us. None of us has an experience of working in a Union Territory. For us in the NC, we have been out of power.
“Even in the Congress, we have been out of office for the last ten years. So, we are all a little rusty, we have had no democracy in J-K since 2018. We will take some time but we will find our way,” he said.
On the CM’s chair being called a crown of thorns, Abdullah said it is not an easy job and it is also not meant to be one.
“Well, everybody says that. I think my grandfather said it to my father, others have said it in other parts of the world. I am not going to use the word ‘crown’ because it has sort of regal connotations.
“It is not an easy job and it is not meant to be. It is meant to be a challenge, challenge that we will accept, knowing we have to live up to the expectations of the people,” he added.
Replying to a question as to how much he had changed since he was the CM last time, Abdullah said he has changed only to become wiser by a few years.
“Well, we all change. We change every day. I have changed in the last few months. I am ten years older, I would like to believe I am 10 years wiser, but maybe I am not, or maybe I am two or three years wiser out of these ten years. But we all learn as we go forward. You will have to decide that,” he added.
“Everybody makes mistakes, but we will make sure we do not repeat them,” the NC leader said when asked if there were some mistakes made during his last tenure as chief minister.
“We are humans. But I will make sure we do not repeat the same mistakes again. I hope we do not make too many mistakes. We will make mistakes but I hope they are not large mistakes. Also, I will endeavour to ensure whichever government we form as an alliance, we do not repeat past mistakes,” he said.
On the issue of the nomination of five MLAs by the LG, Abdullah said nominations should be from the treasury benches because the purpose of such nominations is to benefit the marginalised sections of the society.
“Why should you put their representation in the Assembly in the opposition? It should be in the government. I do not think either the migrants or refugees or women will get as much benefit by sitting in the opposition as they will from being a part of the government,” the NC vice president added. — (PTI)