Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 4: National Conference Vice-President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that his party wants to be in power but not at the cost of the principles.
Speaking at a party meeting in Ganderbal district, Omar said that the NC being a political party also wants to be in power but it cannot happen at the cost of principles. “As a political party NC also wants to have power but we have reached this point we will not sacrifice our principles for power,” he said.
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“This is the only difference between the National Conference and other political parties. Other parties have already conceded defeat on restoration of Article 370. We want to get power. We will remain firm on our principles,” the NC leader said.
He said the NC will continue its fight for restoration of statehood and other rights. “We also want to get statehood back but we will not stop fighting for Article 370,” he added.
The NC leader said: “Power is not our motto, and we cannot abandon our principles. NC is a people’s party and represents the wishes and aspirations of J&K”.
Omar later told reporters that there is no expectation that the rights that were snatched from the people on 5 August 2019, will be restored under the BJP rule.
”We have been saying from day one that whatever has been snatched from us, we have no expectations that it will be restored by the incumbent Government. We want our rights back through legal procedure, we hope that the hearing in this regard in the Supreme Court will be held frequently,” he said.
Reacting to a query the NC leader said that the efforts were always on to spilt the Opposition parties everywhere like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and even the J&K parties have been split and new parties were created.
On being asked about Shah Faesal withdrawing plea challenging Article 370, Omar said that he has the right to do whatever he wants, he can take away the plea, as he was not forced to file a plea and nobody has forced him to withdraw it.
Replying to a question about opposition unity at the national level, he said that the strength of opposition can be decided only in elections.
However, he said that the BJP has decided not to conduct Assembly polls here as the party knows that it won’t be able to even bag 10 seats.
He added that election is the democratic right, but the BJP is in no mood to hold it given the apprehensions of losing the polls.
While addressing the meeting, Omar urged party leaders and workers to gear up in their respective constituencies and disseminate party’s narrative to the public. “Don’t wait for a nod from party’s headquarter. Wake up and gear up your public outreach programs. Fulfil your responsibilities and make your party strong at grassroots level,” he added.
Lashing out at BJP, he said the saffron party seems unwilling in holding assembly elections in J&K. “I am observing things at grassroots level and getting feedback from people. BJP relies on things superficially, but people are fed up from them and want replacement. People want to go with us. They want their complaints should be addressed,” Omar added.
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