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Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s one wrong decision led to revocation of Article 370: Omar
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah attributed the revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A to PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s ‘one wrong decision’ which he said was to form a coalition government with the BJP
The National Conference vice-president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, on Tuesday attributed the revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s ‘one wrong decision’ which he said was to form a coalition government with the BJP.
Quoting the famous couplet at a public rally in Chatroo of Doda district, Omar said, “They (BJP) took advantage of our weakness and I knew it. That’s why I offered my hand of friendship to late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed sahib. Soon after 2014 assembly elections, I had cautioned him that the path being chosen by him (exploring possibilities of forming a coalition government with the BJP) would be very dangerous for J&K and we may not survive by this decision of yours.”
“I told Mufti Sahib I had no greed for power. I had already served for six years as a CM and I told him that we don’t want any of our MLAs and MLCs as ministers in the government. I told him that we will support you unconditionally, but please don’t bring them (BJP) here (in J&K),” he added.
“He (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed), however, might have had some compulsions at that time. Lamhon ne khata ki, sadiyon ne saza paayi...Now, we do not know for how long we will be punished for that one wrong decision because not even a single promise made to us post-revocation of Article 370 has been fulfilled,” Omar said.
“If the NC had come to power in the last assembly elections, there would have been no revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A, no land allotted under the Roshni Act would have been taken back and no jobs would have gone to the outsiders,” he said.
In 2014 assembly elections, the PDP had won 28 seats, the BJP got 25 seats, the NC 15 and the Congress 12.
On February 27, 2015, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sealed an alliance between the PDP and the BJP to form a coalition government.
On March 1, 2015, Sayeed took oath as the chief minister of the PDP-BJP combine in a ceremony that was attended by PM Modi and other leaders.
However, on June 19, 2018, the three-year-old coalition government collapsed after the BJP pulled out of the alliance over worsening security scenario and bitter political feuds between the two.
