Omar Abdullah accuses Delhi of trying to silence him
A day after jailed cleric and pro-separatist Sarjan Wagay filed nomination papers from two Central Kashmir seats, former Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said people in jail were being made to contest against him and attempts were being made by Delhi to silence him.
Barkati, whose nomination was rejected last week, on Thursday filed two nominations – one from Beerwah in Budgam district and another from Ganderbal, where he is up against Omar Abdullah.
On Thursday, Omar entered the poll fray from the Budgam constituency also. Earlier, he filed nomination from the Ganderbal seat.
While addressing workers in Ganderbal district today, Omar said: “I knew that Delhi will try to silence me in some way. I never imagined that they will go to this extent”.
“In Baramulla (Lok Sabha elections), a person (Engineer Rashid) stood against me. He filed the papers while in jail, recorded his message from the jail and sought votes based on emotions. He defeated me in the elections,” he said.
He said: “I thought the person, who had contested the elections earlier, also tried his luck this time and won. I didn’t see it as a conspiracy. I didn’t see it as an agenda of Delhi. I thought luck was on his side and it was my bad luck.”
Talking about Barkati, Omar said when he decided to contest from the Ganderbal seat, reports started pouring in that another citizen (Sarjan Barkati), who is in jail, is talking about contesting against me.
“I was forced to think why these people are put after me only. They are brought from jail and made to contest against me. Is there a conspiracy?” he said, adding that he could understand Rashid contesting the Lok Sabha elections against him as he was a local. “But this time, when they could not find a local (Ganderbal) person in jail, they brought one (Barkati) from Zainapora-Shopian,” he said.
Barkati’s form was accepted from both seats on Friday after last week’s rejection by the election authorities.
The former Chief Minister said he consulted a few of his colleagues and told them that he wanted to prove that a conspiracy was being hatched against him by Delhi. “To do it, we will contest from another seat. But, we won’t tell anyone from where we are contesting,” he said.
He said the party didn’t announce about our second seat. Barkati prepared papers for the Beerwah seat, assuming that Omar was a former MLA from Beerwah and he would again file the nomination from there.
“When I filed papers from Budgam in the afternoon, they were caught on the wrong foot,” he said.
Omar said it proved that “Delhi is not trying to silence any politician in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kashmir, as much as they are trying to do it with me,” he said.
Omar cites reasons why Delhi allegedly wants to silence him. “It is because when I speak, I represent your emotions. I talk about people’s issues. I talk about our lost dignity,” he said, adding that he fights against Delhi, he fights for the entire Jammu and Kashmir and not for himself or his family.
“The BJP does not like this. So, conspiracy after conspiracy is being hatched against me. This conspiracy has succeeded once only. This time, I have full faith in the people that they will vote wisely,” he said.
