Time to remind Omar Abdullah that had NC not contested elections in 1996 we wouldn”t have come to this pass

Few days back Omar Abdullah apprehended that emerging of new political forces in J&K is not fruitful for Kashmiris, and it will divide them further. His apprehensions can’t be ruled out but don’t carry much weight as he has not revealed why are new political forces emerging in Kashmir. Had Omar Abdullah and his predecessors done something credible, surely Kashmiris would not have been so ungrateful that they would support new alliances and fresh entities to politics. Omar Abdullah seems ignorant of the fact that for some politics is a battle of ideas, for some it’s survival of the fittest, but for a few it’s division of labour. Unfortunately it seems that from Shiekh Sahib to Omar Abdullah none believes in these interpretations. Even Late Sheikh Sahib has the honour of physically assaulting his political opponents in the streets of Lal Chowk and elsewhere. Change is the only permanent thing and Kashmiris have been waiting for a change in behavior and attitude of NC leadership since long. They were expecting them to give up traditional politics of exploitation and pursue the agenda of fulfilling the long pending genuine sentiments and aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Had NC not let down Kashmiris especially in post 1989 scenario, PDP would never have emerged as an alternative to NC. Before worrying for his hegemony and monopoly Omar Abdullah should answer why should not people search for alternate political platforms if their miseries are increasing day by day, their aspirations and rights getting bulldozed and so called major players of mainstream politics just playing with the words and trying to gain power at the cost of self respect and sacrifices of Kashmiris. Had NC not contested elections in 1996 the entire scenario would have been different as New Delhi would have been left with no option but to give some honorable resolution to Kashmir Dispute. The least NC could have done was putting restoration of autonomy, release of political prisoners and concrete dialogue between all the three stakeholders as pre requisite conditions to contest elections. But jumping into the fray without proper ground work or sincere designs destroyed Kashmiris. Farooq Abdullah after being elected Chief Minister in a sham election shamed and hurt Kashmiris at SKICC in presence of India’s top political leadership by promising to sacrifice last drop of his blood for India not Kashmiris. Then staging drama of passing autonomy resolution and doing nothing to achieve it, was an insult to entire Kashmir. 

NC leadership has every reason to cry that PDP is creation of New Delhi but needs to be reminded that had NC not stabbed Kashmiris in different forms, New Delhi’s designs to create PDP as an alternative to NC would not have materialised. Why is Omar Abdullah so ungrateful by not recognizing that a man with a traditional Kashmiri cap defeated Mufti Sahib in Bijbehara on more than one occasion, as people were expecting Late Sheikh Sahib and his party to take bold initiatives by first apologizing for the past mistakes and then make New Delhi and Islamabad understand significance of resolving Kashmir issue. Does Omar Abdullah believe that Kashmiris should never vote for any option other than that of Sheikh dynasty which most of Kashmiris now consider mother of all evils. How long will NC continue seeking votes for Sheikh Sahib’s struggle against Maharaja. If today any other alternative emerges, whatever its ideology and goal, it would be effective only because NC and PDP acted like proxies of New Delhi. Omar Abdullah must have faith in Kashmiris and should not forget that if Kashmiris supported his grand father against all odds as long as he represented their aspirations, why will not Kashmiris support Omar Abdullah, if he has something good to offer them. It seems that both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have realized that Kashmiris vote them not by choice but compulsion.

   

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