Banihal: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Friday joined the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra in Banihal and said he joined the march as it aims to improve the situation and atmosphere in the country. Talking to reporters, the NC leader said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not being done to improve the image of any person. “The aim of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not to improve Rahul Gandhi’s image but to improve the situation in the country,” the National Conference (NC) leader told reporters upon his arrival in the highway town, 120 km from Srinagar.
Taking his point further, Omar Abdullah said that he decided to be a part of the yatra as he is more concerned about the image of the country. “We are not involved in this for the image of any individual but for the image of the country,” he said. Asked about the Congress party’s stand on scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, he said he does not want to get into it.
Omar said Rahul Gandhi was not traveling for “personal reasons” but only because of his concern over attempts to create communal tension in the country and target minorities.
He said, “This government may be befriending Arab countries, but the fact is that there is no representative of the country’s largest minority in this government.”
“This may be the first time since Independence that the ruling party does not have a single Member of Parliament from the Muslim community – neither in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha. This shows their attitude,” he said.
Responding to a question on the abrogation of Article 370, Abdullah said that the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir will fight the case for the restoration of Article 370 in the court. Expressing his concern about the elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah also said, “It’s been eight years.”
“The last assembly election was held in 2014. This has been the longest period between two elections in Jammu and Kashmir. This was not the case even at the peak of militancy,” he said. Omar said that the government wants the people of Jammu and Kashmir to beg for elections. They said, “We are not beggars and we will not beg for this.”
The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi began this morning from Jammu and Kashmir’s Banihal town after a day’s break. The yatra will enter the Kashmir Valley later today for its final leg before culminating in a rally in Srinagar on January 30. The yatra has passed through various districts of Jammu and covered a distance of about 90 kms.
The march started from Kanyakumari on 7 September and entered Jammu and Kashmir via Punjab on 19 January. The marathon march will culminate with Gandhi unfurling the national flag at the party headquarters in Srinagar and addressing a grand rally at the Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium. On 30 January.
(with agency inputs)