J&K people unable to understand what they gained from scrapping of Article 370: Omar

JAMMU: Vice president of the National Conference and former J& K chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday fired fresh salvos at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said, “It came through the back door, formed a coalition government, pulled it down and then ruined the state before dissecting it into two parts.”

Omar was addressing a public rally in Bhaderwah of Doda district. “We could not win the assembly elections in 2014. The biggest reason for our defeat was we weakened each other and the BJP took advantage of our weakness,” he said.

Omar said the people till date were unable to understand what they gained from the revocation of Article 370.

In 2014 assembly elections, the PDP had won 28 seats, the BJP 25, the NC 15 and the Congress 12.

On February 27, 2015, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sealed the alliance between the

PDP and the BJP to form a coalition government

However, on June 19, 2018, the three-year old coalition government collapsed after the BJP pulled out of the alliance.

Omar also expressed concern over worsening security scenario in the UT post-abrogation of Article 370.

“Thank God you don’t have Kashmir-like situation here. Today, militancy is back in areas which were freed from it before 2014. No one feels secure now,” he said at the rally.

“No one can say that they are coming from Pakistan or elsewhere. They are not coming from Pakistan. Unfortunately, several among them are Kashmiri youths, who have picked up guns over various reasons,” he added.

Omar also regretted the ‘poor’ electricity scenario in Doda region and mocked at the Union minister’s recent visit to promote tourism. “The central minister, who had come here, must have brought generator and electricity with him. Tourists need electricity and warm rooms,” he said.