The latest remarks of National Conference Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on fears of tinkering with Article 35-A and Article 370 are indicating a marked shift in his approach towards the incumbent Narendra Modi led Government at the centre .The remarks of Omar Abdullah also show that mainstream’s ungratefulness is not heading to any dead end in Kashmir. Barely three months back the people of Kashmir offered National Conference contestants the right to represent them from all the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir valley in the Lok Sabha but ironically the party’s chief ministerial candidate and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah demonstrated the worst kind of ungratefulness by asking the central government to wait till the Supreme Court delivers a final judgment on multiple pleas filed against and for article 35 A and article 370 . Question can be asked that couldn’t Omar Abdullah have reiterated his party’s position that the central government must file a counter affidavit against the abrogation of article 35 A to address the genuine fears of the people of Kashmir on their basic citizenship and property rights. Instead of offering explanations over his highly questionable remark over article 35 A Omar Abdullah in his yet another controversial remark created more doubts by half heartedly contesting the remarks of his own father and party president Dr Farooq Abdullah by saying that all party meeting sought by PDP Chief and another former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should be called after Delhi responds to the situation developing in the aftermath of fresh orders on the additional deployment of troops and questionable advisory to the management committees of mosques.
Omar’s remarks are by all standards of human understandabilities showing his bending inclination towards BJP and as such deserves explanations from him keeping in view the sensitivity of the cases filed against article 35 A and article 370 in the Supreme Court and fresh security measures creating political and security chaos in Kashmir. Omar must have learnt lessons from the rout of PDP in the recently held parliamentary elections and responded cautiously to the security measures initiated by the central government in Kashmir in a peaceful security scenario but his remarks show his tendencies to take Kashmiris for a ride. In 2014 parliamentary elections Kashhmiris voted for PDP in more than 35 assembly constituencies but barely few months later the party’s wining margins reduced to 28 assembly segments in assembly elections due to the overconfidence shown by the PDP leaders . Similarly National Conference can’t maintain wining trends in majority of the assembly segments if Omar tends to take people of Kashmir for a ride and continues his bending inclination towards the incumbent Modi led BJP government at the centre.