NC takes to Twitter to mock PDP-BJP coalition

SRINAGAR: As the government formation process reached a climax this week with top leadership of the PDP and the BJP holding meetings and sharing a historic hug to finalise the deal, the National Conference (NC) took to Twitter to fire a barrage of criticism at the two parties.

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 28

As the government formation process reached a climax this week with top leadership of the PDP and the BJP holding meetings and sharing a historic hug to finalise the deal, the National Conference (NC) took to Twitter to fire a barrage of criticism at the two parties.

The tweets were shared on three Twitter accounts belonging to former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is the working president of the National Conference, the party’s spokesman Junaid Mattu and the party’s own account.

From cartoons mocking the PDP-BJP alliance to screenshots of differing statements of the leaders of the two parties, the NC used every option to criticise the new coalition.

The three parties, two of whom will now be partners in the new government which will take oath on Sunday, contested the Legislative Assembly election by campaigning against each other, leaving enough statements for the NC to share.

The government formation in the state remained in a limbo for more than two months as no political party won enough seats to form the government on its own while the talks to forge an alliance continued in secrecy.

Omar, who is an avid user of Twitter, led the party’s Twitter campaign by sharing pictures and cartoons, writing sarcastic commentary and, at times, mocking the deal between the PDP and the BJP. “My worst fear over the last two months was that Mufti would walk away from the BJP, claim the mantle of a martyr and force an election. Whew!” Omar wrote on Twitter on Friday evening.

PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be sworn-in as the new Chief Minister on Sunday and will head the state government in coalition with the BJP. Mufti’s PDP is the regional arch-rival of Omar’s NC.

The gallery of pictures which Omar shared with sarcastic undertones included PDP president Mehbooba Mufti attending the marriage reception of BJP president Amit Shah’s son, Mufti-Modi hug and a cartoon in which the Mufti duo carry Modi and Shah into Kashmir in a palanquin.

“With this hug,” Omar wrote in another tweet while referring to Mufti-Modi hug, “the capital of J&K shifted to Nagpur”, the city where the RSS headquarters is located.

Omar also shared a screenshot of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account in which he had campaigned against the NC and the PDP by accusing them of “dynastic politics”.

The common minimum programme of the PDP-BJP alliance, which has not been announced so far, also became a hit point for the NC. “BJP-PDP common minimum programme released after the oath-taking is pointless as far as moral legitimacy goes. Nikkah is before walima. This is nikkah after walima,” Mattu, NC spokesman, wrote on Twitter.

‘Nikkah’ is the contract signed to perform the marriage while ‘walima’ is the subsequent banquet. “Mufti postured as a tough guy and bragged he won’t marry the BJP without people ratifying the common minimum programme. Now political marriage consummated pending marriage,” Mattu wrote.

Barrage of criticism

From cartoons mocking at the PDP-BJP alliance to screenshots of differing statements of the leaders of the two parties, the NC used every option to criticise the new coalition
The gallery of pictures which Omar shared with sarcastic undertones included PDP president Mehbooba Mufti attending the marriage reception of BJP president Amit Shah’s son, Mufti-Modi hug and a cartoon in which the Mufti duo carry Modi and Shah into Kashmir in a palanquin