Lok Sabha polls a chance for voters to show rejection of Art 370 abrogation: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, Mar 27 (PTI) The Parliamentary election is an opportunity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir to show their “rejection” of the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decisions to abrogation Article 370 and divide of the erstwhile state into two Union territories, NC vice president Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday.

“The upcoming general election provides us an opportunity to show our rejection for GoI’s (Government of India’s) August 5, 2019 actions,” Abdullah said while addressing a party function in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

He said while the party would come up with a road map to address the “mounting public woes” in the upcoming assembly elections “when they are held in August and September later this year”, the Lok Sabha election is about showing the country and the world that “the people of J-K did not approve of the August 5, 2019 decisions”.

“We will come up with a manifesto to ease administrative discomfort, address soaring unemployment, sky-rocketing electricity bills during the run-up to assembly elections. This time it’s about making our stance clear to powers in Delhi and the world that we didn’t approve of the decisions of August 2019,” Abdullah added.

The National Conference (NC) leader said the reason why the BJP and its subsidiary parties in J-K have united against the party is because it has not accepted the actions of August 5, 2019.

“These strange bedfellows were forced to club together despite their differences. There is nothing in common between them. They don’t look into each other’s eyes. Yet they were forced to club against us,” he said, apparently referring to the reports of an alliance between various regional political outfits like the Democratic Progressive Azad Party, the Apni Party and the Peoples Conference.

The former J-K chief minister said it was not the first time that New Delhi is “pitching” parties against the NC.

“We have outlived such situations successfully in the past as well. 1977 elections witnessed how New Delhi propped up a massive alliance of politicians, religious leaders and other organisations against us. But, the people outright rejected them. Today also, the people are with us, and as long as we have the peoples’ support, no power on earth can harm us,” Abdullah said.