Omar Abdullah: Ghulam Nabi Azad helping BJP split secular vote, communal harmony at stake

Banihal, April 14

In a veiled attack on the BJP, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday accused it of “destroying” the country’s communal harmony and alleged that the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led DPAP was helping the saffron party divide secular votes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah participated in a roadshow in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir to campaign for INDIA bloc candidate Choudhary Lal Singh.

Congress’ Lal Singh is pitted against Union minister and BJP candidate Jitendra Singh in the Udhampur-Kathua parliamentary constituency, which goes to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 19. DPAP’s G M Saroori is among 10 others in the fray.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani accompanied Abdullah during the roadshow in the Khari area of Banihal.

“There are two types of ideologies, one which is taking yatras to spread hatred, destroy communal harmony, pull down mosques and trigger bloodshed and the other whose aim is to unite the country, overcome religious discard, revive brotherhood and ensure peace,” Abdullah said without taking any names.

“Your vote will have a bearing for the next five years and so you have to choose whom to vote this time as there is no chance to correct yourself later,” Omar, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, said. He accused Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Azad of fielding a candidate from the constituency at the behest of the BJP to divide the secular votes in the Chenab Valley region.

“BJP MP represented the seat for 10 years but today they need someone for help… Why the DPAP fielded a candidate only from Udhampur? Why not from Jammu where they could have fielded a Hindu candidate to cut BJP’s votes. They have not fielded him (Saroori) to win the seat as otherwise, Azad himself would have contested from there,” Abdullah said.

He expressed regret over Azad “playing into the hands of the BJP” and asserted that his father, Farooq Abdullah, was very close to the DPAP chairman.

It was the National Conference which facilitated the entry of Azad, a former Congress veteran, into the Rajya Sabha twice, Abdullah said.

“He (Azad) was among the tallest leaders and we were of the opinion that he might be the country’s president or vice president in case Congress comes to power,” Abdullah said.

Azad resigned from all party positions in August 2022, describing the Congress as “comprehensively destroyed” and accusing its leadership of committing “fraud” on the party in the name of “sham” internal elections.

He launched the DPAP in September of the same year after ending his more than five-decade-long association with the Congress.

Abdullah said the Congress gave Azad everything and he used to be a leader of national stature. But he ruined his political career and reduced himself to a leader of a parliamentary constituency, he said.

“The duration for which he was a member of the Congress Working Committee is more than my age. When he left the Congress, he made an announcement to form a national party but how many candidates he has fielded in the Lok Sabha elections? When his party announced his candidature from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, he said on record that he was not consulted,” the 54-year-old Abdullah said. — PTI

Campaigns for Udhampur Cong candidate

• Amid tensions between PDP and NC, the alliance between Congress and NC is sailing smooth with Omar Abdullah campaigning for Congress candidate from Udhampur constituency, Choudhary Lal Singh
• In a daylong tour of the areas in the Udhampur LS constituency, Omar along with Congress J&K chief Vikar Rasool Wani held public meetings at several places in Ramban and Doda districts. Abdullah was seen riding along with Wani in an open jeep in these areas urging the people to vote for the alliance