Former J&K chief minister and National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Thursday fired a broadside at the Lieutenant Governor’s (L-G) administration for removing the title ‘Sher’ (lion), used for Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, from the convention centre in Srinagar.
“Sher-e-Kashmir is being removed from J&K’s institutions, convention centres and cricket stadiums. Those doing so will be removed soon. Let them erase. The next government will restore Sher-e-Kashmir,” Mr. Abdullah, said while addressing party workers at the party’s headquarters in Srinagar.
Sheikh Abdullah lives on
He said the truth cannot remain hidden. “Despite the efforts of the BJP, the Centre and the J&K administration to demonise Sher-i-Kashmir, they could not erase him from the hearts of people,” Mr. Abdullah said.
The L-G administration recently dropped the title from Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre and renamed it Kashmir International Convention Centre.
Referring to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud’s remarks about Sheikh Abdullah, Mr. Abdullah said, “It was acknowledged in the SC that Sheikh sahib was not an ordinary leader. He was a visionary. The CJI praised his decisions taken for J&K. Sher-i-Kashmir spoke about economic integration 70 years ago. He had the foresight,” Mr. Abdullah said.
He said the NC never led the people of J&K astray. “We were being provoked into organising street protests after 2019. But we did not want to hand stones to youth and mar their future,” Mr. Abdullah said.
NC opposed militancy
The former chief minister said several leaders of his party have laid down their lives to oppose militancy in Kashmir since 1990. “Over 30 years ago, guns were everywhere in Kashmir. However, my father Dr. Farooq Abdullah made a speech at the Hazratbal shrine and asked youth not to pick up guns. He promised to quit Kashmir if that would stop them from picking up guns,” Mr. Abdullah said.
He said the NC has been proven right as “guns only brought destruction and only filled the graveyards”.
“We always said if J&K has to achieve anything, it’s from this country and its Constitution. We will fight democratically and constitutionally. We have the best lawyers of the country pleading our case (in the SC on Article 370). Both Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramanium figure in the country’s top five lawyers,” Mr. Abdullah said.
Referring to Democratic Progressive Azad Party president Ghulam Nabi Azad’s stand on Article 370, Mr. Abdullah said, “Those who talked about forgetting Article 370 are also talking about its restoration. They also suggest that Article 370 should not have been tampered with,” he added.
