J&K: Sajad Lone terms CM Omar Abdullah Delhi’s ‘best bet in Kashmir’s destruction’

Srinagar, Nov 30 (PTI) Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone Saturday lashed out at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, describing him as Delhi’s “best bet in Kashmir’s destruction and erosion” of its identity.

In a scathing attack against the chief minister, Lone, the Handwara MLA, took to X to allege that Abdullah does not have the guts to fight Delhi and does not dare speak against the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha or the BJP.

“During the election period, your body language and utterances were aggressive. Your whole campaign was customised against the BJP. Your electoral script was a blend of escalation and scapegoating. And it worked for you. A massive mandate you got,” Lone said in a long post on the microblogging site.

After the elections, “we have seen you descending from the peaks of escalation to the language of temperance”, he said.

“The aggression is gone. The utterances have been watered down. The belligerence has been replaced by humiliating visuals of you gifting shawls to the top BJP leadership,” the Peoples’ Conference chief said, referring to the chief minister presenting shawls to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers in Delhi after he took over the office.

“What was the hurry to go to Delhi and gift shawls? From a rebel with a sword in his hand mounted on a horse to a minion grovelling on his knees, the sword was replaced by a shawl. What a comedown,” the MLA said.

Hitting out at the chief minister, Lone said, “Your shawl-draping visuals of surrender meant that BJP had actually taught the people of Kashmir a lesson. The BJP had the last laugh. You displayed a rookie enthusiasm to attack them during elections and are now displaying a rookie enthusiasm in surrendering to them.

“So desperate you seem to get a ‘foot in the BJP door’, unable to hide your yearning for boundary-crossing. And your shawl gifting spree, your desire to be the BJP good boy, your evident discomfort in having to take on the ‘Congress Excess Baggage” is a kick in the teeth for all those Kashmiris who were tricked into believing that you are the ultimate secular warrior to take on the communally depraved BJP,” he added.

The MLA said there is an elected government in J-K, but there is also the parallel LG government.

“There are no business rules in sight. Business rules are in essence demarcation of respective competencies. And there is total confusion. You have been ring-fenced,” he said.

Referring to the dismissal of two government employees on Friday by the Jammu and Kashmir L-G over alleged terror links, Lone said not a single day passes when the elected government is not “undermined”.

“And now two employees have been terminated. Again you are quiet. And while you don’t dare speak against the LG or the BJP, your toadies are at it making a list of small-level government employees who they believe have not been politically favourable to them. And single transfers will yet again become a norm. Again it is the Kashmiri you will punish,” he said.

The Peoples’ Conference chief said, “You (Abdullah) don’t have the guts to fight Delhi. But you will fight and punish the Kashmiri”.

“That you have been doing for decades,” he said.

Lashing out at the chief minister, Lone said he was Delhi’s “best bet in Kashmir’s destruction and erosion” of its identity.

“This feeling of being overprivileged and you being some precious cargo which India or Delhi can’t do without… Get off that high horse. They let you prosper because you are pliable. And may I say Shawl-able. And in Kashmir’s destruction and erosion of their identity, you are Delhi’s best bet,” he added.