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Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference Vice- president Omar Abdullah in sharp reality check jibe has reminded Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad that has been elected to the Rajya Sabha twice with National Conference’s help.
Abdullah, responding to the recent attacks by Azad on the National Conference (NC), asked if the DPAP leader had forgotten all previous “help” provided by the NC..
“I would like the same party (Azad’s DPAP) to attack BJP with half the ferocity they attack us. It tells you their agenda. Everyone knows what it means to them when Azad praises the prime minister and criticises Farooq Abdullah sahib.
“Instead, Farooq Abdullah sent him twice to the Rajya Sabha when his own party was not interested in sending him to the Rajya Sabha”, Omar Abdullah told reporters here in response to Azad’s remarks on the NC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during his election rallies.
Taking another dig at him, Omar Abdullah questioned Azad whether he had forgotten the time when he used to call to remove PDP’s Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2005. Azad enjoyed power with us, the NC vice president said.
“He reached the Rajya Sabha because of our members. How his wife Shameema Ji wept while calling Dr Farooq Abdullah sahib that you gave a new lease of life in politics to Azad sahib. Has he forgotten everything? Time has changed. He has also changed,” he said.
Omar Abdullah said that Azad should not forget that he was in the Rajya Sabha for 12 years due to the NC. “He is enjoying the house in which he lives today because of us,” the NC leader said.
On the central government’s plans to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act before the general elections, “It was passed in 2019, but notifying the CAA (rules) just a few days before the bugle of elections is to be blown, perhaps it makes it clear what the aim is. They (BJP) were saying that after the (construction) of the Ram Temple, they cannot lose. But perhaps they feel that their position is weak and that is why they have to use these new weapons,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Abdullah said it was evident that the BJP wants to use religion in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “The Muslims have always been a target of the BJP, which is not something new for the party. Even in the CAA, the Muslims have been made a specific target. This is not new politics for the BJP, this has been their approach before as well,” he said.
To a question on the electoral bonds issue, the former chief minister said those who have “control” over the SBI are being “protected”.
“Who has taken the highest electoral bonds? Who is to be saved? They will not protect those who have taken the lowest bonds. They don’t want to inform people how many bonds have been taken by a particular party. Who has control over SBI. I and the INDIA alliance do not have that control,” he said.
“The good thing is that the Supreme Court has rejected their argument. They have told them to submit information by March 12. We will also come to know who has got what. We got very little. We have not even come on the list of ECI,” he said.
When asked about resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, Omar Abdullah said it was “not just up to India but also on the other side” to start talks.
