National Conference president Farooq Abdullah set off a political storm on Saturday, October 24, after telling a party workers’ convention in Baramulla that Pakistan’s campaigning on Kashmir at international forums was the reason Kashmiris were being “saved”, and that the Centre’s intentions towards them were “not right”. The BJP described the comments as seditious and pro-Pakistan, and several of its leaders demanded that he be booked.
What he said
Addressing workers in north Kashmir, the former chief minister, speaking in Hindi, asked what people could expect from Delhi and whether they believed it would deliver justice. He urged them to find the courage to fight, warning that otherwise their identity would be wiped out.
They are silent today due to pressure from the world. Our neighbour goes everywhere and says that the Kashmir issue has not been resolved. They are protecting us. Otherwise, their intentions are not right.
Farooq Abdullah, National Conference president, in Baramulla
At the same convention he cautioned party workers against switching loyalties, saying the strength of a political organisation lies in the sincerity of its workers rather than in winning elections or forming governments.
BJP demands a sedition case
BJP leaders in Jammu and in Delhi lined up to condemn the remarks. Former state BJP chief Ravinder Raina called the statement highly condemnable and said it attracted sedition charges, asking how Pakistan, which he described as an enemy country responsible for killing Kashmiris, could be called their protector. Jammu and Kashmir BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said Mr. Abdullah should be booked and suggested that if he had so much faith in Pakistan, he should go there.
BJP MLA Yudhvir Sethi demanded an apology along with a sedition case, while national council member Yamini Sharma accused the National Conference of becoming a mouthpiece for Pakistan. National spokesperson R.P. Singh told Mr. Abdullah to look across the border at the condition of people in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, crediting the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 for Kashmir’s economic recovery and the roughly two crore tourists he said visit every year.
Congress distances itself
The Congress, which backs the National Conference government in the Union Territory from outside, kept its distance. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kapil Singh said the statement could be Mr. Abdullah’s personal stand, and stressed that India does not tolerate interference by Pakistan or any other country in its internal affairs. He added that people in the region remain angry over the delay in restoring Statehood. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah’s son, had not commented on his father’s remarks by Saturday evening.
Why it matters
India’s long-held position is that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and that Pakistan has fuelled violence there through cross-border terrorism, so praise for Islamabad’s diplomacy from the head of the ruling party in the Union Territory is politically explosive. The row comes at a sensitive moment for the National Conference: on the same day, Omar Abdullah met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and announced that he will expand and reshuffle his Council of Ministers next week, a move the Congress says it will not join until Statehood is restored.
Article 370, which gave the former State special status, was abrogated in August 2019, and the State was split into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
