Though the remark of Peoples’ Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone that Omar Abdullah was the poster of BJP in Kashmir during the reign of Attal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA Government goes uncontested but Sajad Lone as the poster boy of Narendra Modi led BJP government at the centre has more critics than Omar Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir particularly Kashmir valley. For all practical reasons Vjpayee unlike Modi was respected for the peace posturing he showed in relations with Pakistan and dialogue with Hurriyat Conference. Vajpayee as Prime Minister offered a hand of friendship to Pakistan from Kashmir soil during a public rally at S K Cricket Ground Srinagar but Narendra Modi told his ally late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed the then Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister in November 2015 in full public glare during a public rally at the same S K Cricket Stadium Srinagar that he won’t take lessons from him on resumption of dialogue with Pakistan. Sajad Gani Lone should not have any reservations to also admit the hard fact that Attal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister was generous enough to talk to Hurriyat Conference leaders including the likes of Mirwaiz Molvi Umar Farooq, Prof Ab Gani Bhat and Maulana Abaas Ansari but Narendra Modi as Prime Minister not only stucked to the condition of “talks within the Indian constitution” but also granted institutional and administrative powers to National Investigative Agency (NIA) to arrest dozens of separatist leaders on charges of illegal funding.
By all standards of political morality and general understandabilities Omar Abdullah reserves the right to claim the credit for the peace posturing Attal Bihari Vajpayee had shown as Prime Minister of the country and Sajad Gani Lone as an unattached ally of Narendra Modi led BJP also reserves the right to own the responsibility for Narendra Modi’s denial of engagement with Pakistan and separatist leadership and the revival of 1990 type cordon and search operations (CASO) resulting in the death of dozens of civilians month after month.
Forget about talks with Pakistan the revival of 1990 type cordon and search operations (CASO) resulting in the killing of dozens of hundreds of civilians during last four and a half year goes on unstopped in the nook and corner of the Kashmir but on the contrary people still recall the days when Vajpayee led government in the year 2003 did not object to the decisions of then Mufti Mohammad Sayeed led PDP- Congress coalition government over assimilation of counter militancy wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police the Special Operations Group (SOG) into regular police force and restrictions on the conduct of cordon and search operations in the populated areas in Jammu and Kashmir state. So by all standards of political morality and general understandabilities Omar Abdullah reserves the right to claim the credit for the peace posturing Attal Bihari Vajpayee had shown as Prime Minister of the country and Sajad Gani Lone as an unattached ally of Narendra Modi led BJP also reserves the right to own the responsibility for Narendra Modi’s denial of engagement with Pakistan and separatist leadership and the revival of 1990 type cordon and search operations (CASO) resulting in the death of dozens of civilians month after month.