Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 11: Former Chief Minister and vice president of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah today said that they have a strong case on Article 370 and hoped that the Apex Court will provide a ruling.
Speaking at Hazratbal today on the anniversary of her grandmother Begum Akbar Jehan, Omar when asked about the hearing of the Article 370 case said: “Let the Supreme Court hearing begin, and the details will emerge. If our case had been poor, believe me, they would have begun the hearing in weeks instead of taking such a long time. The law and Constitution were destroyed on August 5, 2019”.
Omar said that it took four years for the case to reach the Supreme Court, which is evidence of how strong the case is. “Whatever political spin you give it by linking it to the G20 and tourism, the truth remains that whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir was illegal from a Constitutional and legal standpoint, and we expect the Supreme Court to provide a ruling on this,” he said.
The NC leader said that the Government had its own ways, and if they had wanted to hear this issue, they would have requested the Supreme Court to hear it. Instead, they (the Government) did not even attempt to start the hearing. We fight, although we are not the Government,” he said.
Omar thanked the Chief Justice and other Judges for visiting Kashmir before setting the dates. “They made no attempt to start the hearing, and they would have done so if they had a compelling argument. They would have requested the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice to gently open the hearing, but they stayed silent. Thankfully, the Chief Justice and other Judges visited Kashmir and observed the situation before setting dates. It is better late than never.
The former Chief Minister hoped that they will soon receive ruling on Article 370. “Chief Justice has fixed the dates for the hearing; we have not. We are hoping that the hearing will end quickly and that we will soon receive the ruling on 370,” he said.
Omar said that they don’t know anything about the Uniform Civil Code yet and once the proposal is out, then only they will decide about the course of action.
“We have no proposal on what might be included or excluded. What can we discuss without any proposals? We are speaking in the air, so in order for me to support or oppose anything, I need to have any proposal available. Let the idea be brought up in Parliament, and if it contains anything that is discriminatory towards any community, we will oppose it. However, as of yet, we have no proposals to oppose,” he said.
“There is neither an agenda nor a plan, despite the Prime Minister mentioned it in his speech that it should be implemented. Although we oppose the BJP agenda, we want to see the UCC proposal. We will then review it to see what has been incorporated or eliminated,” the NC leader said.
Omar said that the breaking up of Sharad Pawar’s party has nothing to do with opposition meeting as parties have broken up in the past as well.
“As parties have previously split up, this is not the first time that this has happened. There was no opposition meeting prior to the breakup of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. This has occurred in the past and will continue in the future as well. In my opinion, Sharad Pawar has not grown weaker politically as a result of the party split; rather, I believe he has grown stronger,” he said.
The NC leader said that he believes that Pawar has become stronger, particularly in light of the allegations made by Ajit Pawar about how old he is and how he ought to be retired by now. “When voters get the opportunity to cast their ballots, the results will be in front of everyone. In my opinion, the people of Maharashtra did not like it,” he said.
When asked about the BJP seeking votes from people again on old issues like Ram Mandir and the revocation of Article 370, Omar said the BJP has the same right as any other political party to present its agenda to the public and ask for votes, and “our party and other parties have done the same thing”.
“We personally disagree with the BJP’s agenda, but it is within their democratic rights to present it to the public. I do not have a problem with the BJP pushing its agenda; I think we should instead concentrate on how the BJP is slowly trying to revive the NDA as evidence that they are sensing that the situation on the ground is not in their favour,” he said.
The NC leader said that the BJP has been working to prevent the alliance for the past 5-8 years, and while they have maintained connections everywhere, they have gradually lost their closest allies, including the Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and other parties.
“What has changed that is compelling the BJP now to extend their hands of friendship and resurrect the NDA? They are trying to revive friendship with Akalis in Punjab while conducting consultations with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Chandrababu Naidu. And I believe that the ground the BJP claims is in their favour is far from the truth, leaving alone their core purpose. Elections in 2024 will not be as simple for them as they are attempting to portray in the media to the people,” he added.
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