Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 9: Within hours after winning the prestigious Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil elections, over-enthusiastic former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reminded the BJP that Ladakh is a Muslim-majority region.
Buoyed over the victory of the party, which emerged as the single largest party in LAHDC Kargil elections, Omar Abdullah said that the people of Ladakh have rejected the decision of the Union government to bifurcate it from the erstwhile state of J&K.
“Now BJP will now try to give an impression that Kargil is a Muslim majority region so people voted for NC and Congress. I want to remind the BJP that the entire Ladakh is a Muslim-majority region, although there is a huge chunk of Buddhist population also”, Omar reminded the BJP.
The former Chief Minister, however, minced no time in admitting that “NC did not fight these elections on the basis of religion. This is proved by the fact that our elected councillor from Padam's seat in these elections is a Buddhist”.
Omar Abdullah said that it was the people’s verdict against the “illegal” decision of August 5, 2019.
“Residents of Ladakh have outrightly rejected the decision of the Union Government to bifurcate the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories and abrogate article 370 and 35-A”, Omar Abdullah said while addressing media persons to hail the party’s victory in the mountainous region of Kargil as “historic”.
“When article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019, residents of Kargil also joined other people of Ladakh to celebrate this decision. People even distributed sweets but now people are holding protests because they are unhappy with the decision that was taken unilaterally by the Centre”, Omar Abdullah said and added that the verdict of the Kargil Council election is a referendum against the Union Government’s decision.
“Kargil Council elections were not for development or other related issues. It was a referendum against the August 5, 2019 decision and the people of Ladakh overwhelmingly voted against the Union Government’s decision”, Omar asserted.
Notably while campaigning for the National Conference candidates Omar Abdullah had sought the support of the people's August 5, 2019 decision and announced that these elections would be a referendum on Article 370.
“Don’t see these elections as a mere electoral exercise. It will be the Kargil voters’ verdict on the Centre’s actions on August 5, 2019. It will send a message outside J&K that whatever happened on August 5, 2019, was totally wrong because you (Kargil people) were, are, and will not be the supporters of this decision,” Omar said while speaking at a series of public meetings in Kargil and Zanskar areas of Ladakh on October 2 and 3. |
