Ganderbal, July 04: National Conference vice president and former chief minister of J&K Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said he has no hope from the current government “to get back what they snatched from us” on August 5, 2019.
Omar while addressing the media persons after attending the party’s zonal convention at Manasbal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district welcomed the announcement of the hearing date of Article 370 on July 11 by the Supreme Court.
“It is commendable,” he said, “We are thankful to the Chief Justice of India. Hearings on petitions on Art 370 would start on July 11 and we hope that they would be expedited as soon as this case is addressed in the Supreme Court and a verdict will come out. It is better late than never. We have been eagerly waiting for this day since 2019. We hope that what has been snatched from us will be returned to us.”
The NC leader said, “Party’s position on Article 370 remains unchanged and we will fight peacefully, democratically and legally. I will not give stones and guns to our youth, I won’t spoil the environment. We are committed to a peaceful struggle and we will continue to remain steadfast in our struggle.”
Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by NC, Omar in his address said, “There is a big difference between J&K National Conference and other political parties. Other parties only want power, we also want power but we are not ready to sacrifice our principles for it and power is not our end goal. The rest have already given up on Article 370 and argue that Article 370 was gone. They say it is enough to get statehood, we too want our statehood back but we haven’t relinquished our fight on Article 370.”
“If presented in the right way, our case is very strong,” the former chief minister said.
Taking a swipe at the “opportunistic elements”, he said those who have already allied with the BJP are the same people who say that the National Conference and the BJP will form the next government together.
“Why will we form a government together with the BJP? We are trying to form a government on our own. We are trying to explain to people that if you had not formed coalition governments in the past, we would not be in this situation today. We are telling the truth to the people that if the National Conference had not been weakened, these people (BJP) would never have been able to touch Article 370 and 35A,” he said
The NC leader also commented on “breaking down” opposition parties and floating new political parties by BJP in every state. He also said the reason for the delay in elections in J&K is that “the BJP knows it will not get even 10 seats”.
