SRINAGAR: As part of his election campaign for the Baramulla constituency, former Chief Minister and National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah visited the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keran sector, where he invoked former Prime Minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee while pushing for talks between India and Pakistan after a new government comes to power at the Centre post Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
In an exclusive interview with a national television channel, Omar, on the shore of the Kishanganga River which divides India and Pakistan, said that the new governments in Pakistan and India would create a conducive environment for talks between the two countries to address issues.
“When it comes to ties with Pakistan, former PM AB Vajpayee once said, ‘You can change friends but not neighbors,'” Abdullah said. “A new government has recently been formed in Pakistan. Another government will be formed in India after the results are declared on June 4. We hope that the leaders of both countries will create a conducive environment for talks and address issues,” he added.
“We don’t engage with neighboring countries solely based on their possession of nuclear weapons. We maintain good relations with our non-nuclear neighbors as well, such as Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar,” Abdullah, the JKNC candidate from the Baramulla seat, told reporters during election campaigning.
However, what he told media persons there, he didn’t relay to the residents who were part of the rally along the Line of Control (LoC); instead, he targeted the BJP party.
Addressing the people, Omar said, “Our adversaries are dismayed by fear of defeat. They have become victims of confusion. The current Parliamentary election is the semi-final in which the people here have to send their representatives to the Parliament, then the final will happen in September. Then we will settle all the accounts.”
“Whenever we get the opportunity to take over the power of this state with your prayers, our whole effort has been to ensure that these remote areas are not left behind. I want them to get their fair share because your problems are more than the city. People remember you in elections and then forget you, but I am personally happy that we have not forgotten you while in power. I will not claim that we have done everything but it is not that we have done nothing, we have done as much as we could. I brought the entire cabinet, held a cabinet meeting here. I sent my ministers to meet you, listen to your problems and solve them,” he said.
Criticising the BJP and its local allies, Omar Abdullah said that these people are frightened by the heavy participation of youth, elders, mothers and sisters in the meetings, rallies and programs of the National Conference and they have adopted different tactics.
“They are trying to ban our programmes through the administration, they want us not to reach the people and we cannot continue our successful election campaign, but now is the time to thwart their plans. To BJP and its local instrumentalists, we will have to give an answer on May 20 by pressing the plough button,” he said.
