As Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he will launch a signature campaign to seek statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, the opposition, in a scathing attack, said he “owes an apology and not a signature campaign”.
Saying that signature campaigns have no legal or constitutional sanctity, the opposition questioned his “reluctance” in passing a resolution for statehood in the assembly.
“Omar Abdullah owes an apology, not a signature campaign for normalising 5th August. With 50 MLAs behind him, he has reduced the fight for J&K’s statehood to token gestures, after seeking votes door-to-door on the promise of restoring pre–5th August status,” senior Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Para said. “This is not just a retreat, it is a betrayal. The people gave him a historic mandate to fight for Article 370 and statehood, not to stage political theatre.”
Para said that if Omar has already surrendered, he “must admit it and apologise to every citizen of J&K for selling promises he never intended to keep”.
In his Independence Day speech, Omar said, “We will have to leave the offices, and now we will have to raise our voice to those doors where our decisions are being made. Till now, through letters, resolutions, and meetings, we have raised our voice. Now we are going to raise our voice from every village of J&K to Delhi.”
“My intention today is that the Supreme Court has given us eight weeks… Henceforth, my colleagues and I will not sit idle. We will not get tired. We will use these eight weeks to reach every 90 assembly constituencies of J&K,” he said.
Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone questioned the logic behind launching a signature campaign, saying that a resolution in the assembly instead would have constitutional dignity.
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“Signature campaigns have no legal or constitutional sanctity,” Lone said while promising support for any movement towards statehood. “Can CM sahib please, once and for all times to come, explain his reluctance to have a resolution for statehood passed in the Legislative Assembly. Let us approach the Supreme Court as a constitutional entity.”
Calling the door-to-door signature campaign “theatrics”, Lone assured unconditional support for the statehood campaign. “I would strongly assert that pass a resolution in the state Assembly. That is the most dignified way to approach the Supreme Court,” Lone said. “Please tell me, are you shielding and protecting the state BJP and giving them the luxury of not taking a position on statehood by not passing a resolution on statehood?”
