Srinagar(Jammu and Kashmir): After former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah got a drubbing at the hands of jailed politician Er Rashid on the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in the just concluded parliamentary election, the NC President now finds himself in the dock over his social media post linking Rashid's win to the “revival of secession ism” in the region.
Omar, who was the frontrunner on the Barmulla seat opposite Rashid and separatist-turned-mainstream politician and People's Conference President Sajad Lone, was stunned by Rashid with a resounding defeat of over 2 lakh votes.
On Thursday, Omar shared an opinion piece in a prominent outlet that claimed Rashid's win will “empower secessionists, and give Kashmir’s defeated Islamist movement a renewed sense of hope”.
“Rashid’s victory, without doubt, will empower secessionists, and give Kashmir’s defeated Islamist movement a renewed sense of hope. Efforts to draw secessionism back into electoral politics led New Delhi to support the rise of the People’s Democratic Party, and its alliance with the BJP. That, however, ended up empowering violent secessionists, not mainstreaming them—a warning of the unpredictable outcomes of trying to manipulate politics,” Omar shared the article with the pull-out quote.
Omar shared another article in another leading daily claiming Rashid also attracted the “boycott vote, which would earlier stay away from polling booths in the Valley, but which now saw a vote for him as a vote for resistance”. Abrar (Er Rashid's son) addressed this directly in his poll speeches, saying: "I know that you are the pro-boycott people. But promise me, this time you will come out to vote," the article read.
With the first article bringing in the PDP into the argument, party's youth leader Waheed Para was quick to criticize Omar for his “regressive stance”.
“Extremely disappointed with Omar Abdullah's regressive stance, echoing the divisive politics of 1987, and dubbing a democratic expression as an 'Islamist wave'. His family's history with the Muslim Conference clashes with calls for the exclusion of PDP, Er Rashid, and JEI, and will put Kashmir into perpetual conflict with state. A more prudent approach, akin to Mehbooba Mufti's plea for Er Rashid's release, would have been acknowledgment of mandate,” Para replied to Omar's post.
Omar retorted saying the articles he had shared were “not my views but they are a point of view”.
“Waheed I don’t normally get in to any back & forth conversations here but this time I’ll make an exception. I spent my entire campaign talking about Engineer’s release & unlike his campaign I talked about the release of the 1000s detained since 2019. The articles I’ve put here are not my views but they are a point of view. I may agree with parts, disagree with parts but they are an opinion. As for Rashid’s release, it’s a matter for the courts as it is in all such cases. I didn’t agree with Rashid’s detention in the first place & I don’t agree with it now but that’s neither here nor there because it shouldn’t be just about one man but about the 1000s in jail, including the anonymous ones outside J&K,” he said.
