news details |
|
|
| NC just cannot fool the nation | | Accession-merger controversy | | Neha
JAMMU, Nov 5: On the opening day of the biannual Durbar in Jammu, NC working president and J&K CM Omar Abdullah said that he never questioned the state's accession to India, that he never said that accession of J&K was conditional and that J&K is is a part of India. "Please do not put your words in my mouth. I have never used the word conditional nor the word incomplete...I have never used such words. You pull out the Assembly record and see what I had said. J&K acceded to India and J&K is a part of India. There are no two ways about that. There may be difference about how the state acceded to India as compared to other states but that does not call into question the accession" he, among other things, said while talking to reporters in the Civil Secretariat.
It bears recalling that Omar Abdullah had made controversial statement on October 6, 2010 and March 25, 2013 on the floor of the assembly and on September 25, 2013 during his meeting with the visiting European Union delegation at Srinagar on the political status of J&K. On all the three occasions, he had said that the state had only acceded and not merged with India and the accession of the state was only on four subjects - defence, communication, foreign affairs and currency. (Remember, the subject of currency was not part of the instrument of accession. He had distorted the facts for obvious reasons.) On March 25, 2013, Omar Abdullah had not only raked up the issue of J&K on the floor of the assembly but had also ridiculed the Indian lawmakers, saying "by repeating the words Atoot Ang (integral part) you cannot change the political status of J&K". He had made this outrageous statement just 10 days after the Indian Parliament adopted a unanimous resolution on J&K, saying the state 'is and shall be an integral part of India". The India Parliament adopted the resolution to counter the March 13, 2013 anti-India resolution on J&K adopted by the Pakistan National Assembly.
Any way, what Omar Abdullah said yesterday has been interpreted by many as a change in his attitude towards the state. Their assessment is flawed. It's true that he did say that J&K is a part of India. But it's also true that he in the same breath also said that "there may be difference about how the state acceded to India as compared to other states". This statement of his clearly suggests that his stand on the issue of accession of J&K to India continuous to be ambiguous and misleading. Misleading because he withheld the truth by not telling the reporters that J&K acceded to India the same way other 555-odd princely states acceded to the Indian Dominion and that the instrument of accession signed by the Maharaja of J&K was 100 per cent similar to the ones signed by other princes.
If Omar Abdullah actually believes that J&K is an integral part of India, he has to make three categorical statements. One, J&K is an integral part of India to the same extent as other states of the Union are. Two, the accession and merger mean the same thing or the Indian Independence Act of 1947 nowhere said that the J&K after accession also needed to be merged with India. Three, the NC asks the Government of India to revoke the separatist, communal, anti-people and anti-democratic Article 370. Omar Abdullah would do well to realize that he cannot fool the nation any longer by making ambiguous statements. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
