(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- Omar Abdullah Thursday said that he does not view himself as an empowered Chief Minister, and that no Chief Minister of a Union Territory holds the same level of authority as that of a state.“That is a fact. There is no point in living in denial. If I were an empowered CM, why would I ask for restoration of statehood.”
The chief minister took questions on various issues confronting his two-month-old government, including the functioning of an elected government that has to share powers with the Centre's appointee - the lieutenant governor.
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Omar acknowledged the difference of being a chief minister of a Union territory and a state, saying“it has been a little over two months since we came to power. It took us time to understand how the UT government works. We have been associated with the government earlier, but there is a vast difference between that form and the present form”.
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Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday expressed hope that Jammu and Kashmir's Union Territory status is a temporary phase and that the central government fulfils its promise of restoring its statehood.
“For us, the biggest challenge is to get our statehood back. We the people are now expecting that the promises made to us will be fulfilled. The biggest promise is the restoration of statehood.
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“The Supreme Court in its judgement had also stated that the statehood should be restored as soon as possible. One year has passed since and we think one year should be enough,” Omar said in a freewheeling interaction with mediapersons at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here.
He took questions on various issues confronting his two-month-old government, including the functioning of an elected government that has to share powers with the Centre's appointee - the Lieutenant Governor.
“It has been a little over two months since we came to power. It took us time to understand how the UT government works. We have been associated with the government earlier, but there is a vast difference between that form and the present form,” Omar said.
The Centre in August 5, 2019, revoked Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and reorganised the state into two UTs. While J-K has a legislative assembly with limited powers, Ladakh is without a legislature.
In December 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the Centre's decisions to revoke special status and create the two UTs but told the Union government to restore the statehood of J&K as soon as possible.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have on numerous occasions, including in Parliament, said that the statehood of J&K would be restored at an appropriate time.
Abdullah, speaking to the reporters, said the start of the new government has been“decent” and that they“did not find much difficulty” in it.
“We are bound by our election promises. We have started the process of implementing some of the promises and for other promises, we need change in the system. I hope J&K being a UT is a temporary phase,” Omar said.
He said it is important to understand that his party's manifesto was for a five-year term, not five weeks or five months.
“Some issues were important to us and we fulfilled those, including the resolution on statehood and the resolution on the special status,” he said.
Asserting that the Centre should be given“first chance” to fulfil its promise of restoring the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, he said that approaching courts on the issue would mean a“fight” and that it should be the“last option”.
During his first media meet here since assuming office in October, Omar also dismissed suggestions that his National Conference was under pressure to join the BJP-led NDA and expressed optimism that the promises made by the Centre to restore statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be fulfilled at the earliest.
When asked why the J&K government did not approach the court for restoration of statehood and went to the Centre with the resolution on it, he said going to the courts would mean getting into a confrontation.
“Simply going to courts will be a fight. A fight should never be the first option, it should be the last option.
“If the SC had not spoken about the restoration of statehood, if the prime minister and home minister had not spoken about it, then we could have gone to courts. They have made promises and we have to give them a chance first,” he added.
Omar said the Supreme Court in its judgement in December last year had also stated that the statehood should be restored as soon as possible.“One year has passed since and we think one year should be enough,” he said.
He also maintained that the region's current status as a Union Territory should be viewed as a temporary arrangement and restoration of statehood was the“biggest challenge” for his government.
Countering the BJP's narrative that the“Kashmir issue” had been resolved with the abrogation of Article 370 five years ago, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday pointed out that a part of erstwhile state continues to be occupied by Pakistan.
“Let us assume for a minute that this side of Kashmir issue has been resolved, but let us not forget that there is another part of Jammu and Kashmir across the line of control (Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir).
“When the BJP says that the Kashmir issue has been finally resolved, should we assume that the part across the border has also been resolved? But in reality it has not been,” he said.
He was responding when asked if he believed that the Kashmir issue was resolved with the abrogation of Article 370 as has been maintained by the BJP.
“So, the Kashmir issue remains whether this side of LoC or that side, we can debate about it but the issue has not been resolved. We want it to get resolved,” he said.
National Conference leaders have in the past been arguing about a Parliament resolution of February 22, 1994 in which the entire House had noted with“deep concern Pakistan's role in imparting training to the terrorists in camps located in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir”.
The resolution had called upon Pakistan to vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir which they have occupied through aggression.
'No Pressure From PM Or HM On Us'
Omar Abdullah dismissed rumours suggesting pressure from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to alter the National Conference's ideology and join the alliance.
“There is no pressure from the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), Home Minister (Amit Shah) or the Raj Bhawan on us to change our ideology,” he said.
The chief minister added that he has received assurances from the prime minister and home minister that the National Conference government would remain stable and that they would receive the same cooperation extended earlier to the lieutenant governor earlier.
“They have stated they will respect the mandate of the people. Those spreading rumours that I will now join NDA and that I have changed my ideology, I cannot help that. I am here to work and I will work,” he said at the media interaction held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre.
'Dual Power Centres Not An Advantage'
Omar Abdullah said the hybrid model of governance in the Union territory is not to anyone's advantage and the systems work better when there is a single centre of command.
“Obviously, dual centres of power are not to anyone's advantage. If dual centres were effective tools of governance, you would see it everywhere,” Omar told reporters at a media interaction here when asked about the hybrid model of governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief minister said while there have been“differences of opinion on some issues”, there was no confrontation with the Raj Bhavan.
“Systems work better when there is a single centre of command. For the UT, the dual centres of command are inbuilt. There have been differences of opinion on some issues, but not on the scale at which it is being speculated. Such reports are just a figment of imagination,” he added.
Omar said the business rules for the government would be framed after proper consultations and then sent to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
The chief minister said that he was not the one to tell people not to go to the Raj Bhavan.
“I would say people should go wherever they can get their issues resolved - be it in the Raj Bhavan or with the local MLA or the officers,” he added.
As far as reservation is concerned, I told the delegates that the cabinet sub-committee has been framed, the chief minister said.
The party expected that Ruhullah, the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, would hold a similar protest for the restoration of statehood in Parliament as well, he added.
Omar, however, said while we can fight the reserved and open category fight,“but first we have to save our jobs”.
“What will we do when people from other places come here for jobs?” he asked.
Responding to a question about the Raj Bhavan not restoring public holiday on NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's birthday on December 5, and July 13 as Martyr's Day, the chief minister said it cannot erase the legacy of those who have made sacrifices.
“The legacy of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah does not begin and end on December 5. Same goes with the martyrs of July 13. When a farmer tills his land, he thinks of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. When a student receives free or subsidized education, it is legacy of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The hall where we are sitting right now was his legacy as well,” Omar said.
“The holidays became a big story. Ideally, we would want to have them as they are emotionally attached with people,” he added.
Asked about difficulties faced by the candidates on account of police verification for appointments in the government jobs, Omar said although it is outside his domain as of now, he has discussed the matter with the CID chief.
“I have been saying this that a militant's son is not a militant. Consciously, we did away with this blacklisting (in his first term as CM). We can only counsel about it right now. But I believe there is some relief. More will be done for them when we are a state,” he said.
Omarr also said that his government was framing a policy to address the situation of hoteliers in Gulmarg whose land leases have expired after they had opted for the now-disbanded Roshini scheme.
Responding to a question on the row over land acquisition for a campus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, the chief minister said there is a need to find a balance between development and protecting our productive agriculture land.
“We cannot increase our land, development cannot stop. We will try to ensure that development projects are on non-productive lands as much as possible. I met a delegation from Pulwama and I said to them that if you don't want NIT in Pulwama, we will take it to some other location,” Omar said.
“Not everyone is against development. There are other areas where we can locate this NIT. We will have to find a balance between development and protecting our productive agriculture land,” he added.
On the opposition's allegation about a satellite colony being built, the chief minister said there is no such proposal on his table as he looks after the department.
“The people who are making the most noise were the ones who talked about greater Jammu and Srinagar,” he said.
The chief minister said if the townships would be built, they will just be for decongesting the Srinagar city.
“When we talk generally to the residents in Srinagar, they talk about decongestion. There is the problem of housing. 3-4 families are living in a single house, they say if they get an opportunity they would move to the suburbs,” Omar said.
“If the townships will be built, those will not be to settle the outsiders, but for the people of Srinagar, to decongest the city. But there is no such proposal or plan before the government yet,” he added.
He said his government will focus on reducing power distribution losses and expediting metering in the union territory to ensure more electricity supply for the people.
“Metering is an ongoing process, it is a part of the government of India scheme. We are committed to implementing it and we will. Obviously, the more metering that happens, the less pilferage there will be,” Omar told reporters at a media interaction here.
He said both the J&K administration and the Union Power Ministry are committed to advancing these reforms and ensuring their successful implementation,“which we will do”.
Further, the chief minister said J&K is spending Rs 9,500 crore a year to buy power from the Centre.
On the power cuts in Kashmir, Omar said the government is providing more electricity supply to the people than the previous year.
“...we are supplying 1,700-1800 MW electricity, but the unrestricted load is more than that,” he said.
He said the sooner the power projects in J&K are completed, the sooner more electricity can be provided to the people.
“Even if their generation in winters is low, we can bank the power generated during summers. We will try to bank more electricity in the summers every year so that we utilise it in the winters,” he said.
The chief minister said J&K's AT&C losses are more than 50 per cent and efforts are on to bring it down.
“Other states have brought it down to 15-17 per cent. Our endeavour is to bring it down at least below 20 per cent so that we can supply more electricity to the people,” he added.
Asked about his poll promise of providing 200 free units of electricity, Omar said the scheme will be rolled out in March or April.
“What we have promised in our manifesto. That will only happen when there is (complete) metering. We measure units only when there is metering...,” he said.
At the time of government formation, the Congress had taken everyone by surprise by deciding to stay out and support the NC from outside. Reduced to six seats, the party is in no position anyway to dictate terms to the NC.
Asked about the Congress continuing to remain outside the government, Omar said:“The National Conference is part of the INDIA bloc, the Congress is supporting our government, and at the moment it is outside support. They have said that they will remain out until statehood is restored. I haven't heard of any change after that.” (inputs from PTI)
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