Omar seeks Modi’s apology for BJP minister’s remark

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Nagrota, December 3

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled rally in Srinagar on November 8, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today sought an apology from him over “vitriolic remarks” of his minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

Omar said he would like to hear from Modi how he would seek votes from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in the wake of the hate speech by the Union minister.

“I would like to hear from the Prime Minister, who is visiting the Kashmir valley, which is a Muslim-majority area, as to how he expects votes for his party from the people of Kashmir when one of his ministers used abusive language against people like us,” Omar said on the sidelines of a well-attended public rally in Nagrota.

He said, “The Prime Minister should apologise to the people of Kashmir and explain why action has not been initiated against the minister.”

Sadhvi had to apologise in both Houses of Parliament after opposition parties created ruckus in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, demanding her resignation.

To a query on the BJP expecting over one lakh people to attend the Prime Minister’s scheduled rally in Srinagar, Omar said it would not be a big issue for the saffron party to gather the expected number of people from the Valley as it had no dearth of money.

“You can easily hold a rally by arranging buses, trains and arranging food for the people. What matters is the translation of participation into votes. There is a huge difference between holding a rally and translating its participants into votes,” the Chief Minister said.

Omar said former separatist leader and People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone, who is contesting elections from Handwara and has been in the limelight for warming up to the saffron party, can alone bring 20,000 to 30,000 people for Modi’s rally.

He also lashed out at the BJP government for its alleged failure to live up to the expectations of the people in the first seven months of its term.

“The BJP has resorted to double-speak as it has failed to come up to the expectations of the people in the first seven months of its term. It is silent on its core issues such as the abrogation of Article 370, black money and inflation as it always hoodwinked people when it came to power in the past,” Omar said.

He also dared the BJP to prove its “baseless allegations” against the National Conference vis-à-vis siphoning off of funds from the Centre over the years, saying that the Centre was free to hold an inquiry by its premier agencies, including the CBI, IB and the Enforcement Directorate.

Omar also castigated the Centre for announcing just Rs 1,000 crore for the flood victims against the state’s estimated losses of more than Rs 40,000 crore. “Have they done charity by allocating just Rs 1,000 crore against the state’s estimated losses of over Rs 40,000 crore?” he questioned.