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J&K assembly session: Omar’s ‘appropriate time’ jibe at BJP on panchayat polls query
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday turned the BJP’s oft-repeated “appropriate time” line on statehood back on the party over the delay in holding panchayat polls in the Union territory
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J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday turned the BJP’s oft-repeated “appropriate time” line on statehood back on the party over the delay in holding panchayat polls in the Union territory.
The BJP’s state and central leadership has maintained that statehood for J&K will be restored at an “appropriate time”, without specifying a timeframe.
The line has been repeated by BJP leaders in J&K, including Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, in response to Omar’s repeated demand for restoration of statehood.
The chief minister has repeatedly sought restoration of J&K’s statehood, including in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
Speaking in the assembly on Tuesday, Omar said he would adopt the same formulation while responding to BJP legislators’ questions on the panchayat polls.
“On the holding of panchayat polls, I want to say what the BJP leadership has been saying on our statehood - that it will be given at an appropriate time. I am also saying that the panchayat polls will be held at an appropriate time,” Omar said.
Omar has previously made it clear that his government is not in a hurry to hold the panchayat polls.
Taking a dig at the chief minister’s statement, LoP Sharma said Omar did not want to see the empowerment of common people through grassroots institutions.
“When assembly polls were not being held, Farooq Abdullah, the father of the J&K CM, was questioning everywhere about assembly polls as he wanted to see his son as CM. Now he isn’t in a hurry, as the panchayat polls would have empowered poor people. The people won’t forgive Omar, especially those who want panchayat polls,” Sharma told reporters. Sharma said holding panchayat polls was under the purview of the UT government, while the Centre will decide when J&K should get statehood.
Jammu and Kashmir’s three-tier Panchayati Raj system was disrupted after the terms of its elected bodies ended. The term of the district development councils (DDCs) ended on February 24, while the terms of panchayats and block development councils (BDCs) ended years ago.
Following the 2020 DDC elections, the first held after Jammu and Kashmir became a Union territory, the Centre had frequently cited the completion of the three-tier system as a hallmark of its democratic outreach.
While opposition parties have consistently demanded fresh polls, the government has so far remained non-committal, with Omar saying that polls were not currently on the government’s agenda, prioritising the restoration of statehood instead.
The last panchayat elections were held in 2018 and the term ended in 2023, while BDC polls took place in October 2019.
