In Kashmir show of strength, BJP attacks Omar govt over ‘doublespeak’, raises 2010 killings | India News
Srinagar: At an induction rally in Srinagar on Saturday, the BJP fronted Leader of the Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Sunil Sharma to launch a political attack on the Omar Abdullah government.Sharma, who represents Paddar constituency in Kishtwar district, alternated between Urdu and Kashmiri as he addressed hundreds of party workers, accusing the ruling National Conference (NC) of practicing “doublespeak” in Kashmir and failing to deliver on promises of jobs and welfare schemes.BJP’s J&K chief and Rajya Sabha member Sat Sharma welcomed the new entrants to the party from PDP, NC and Congress, terming such steady influx of leaders and activists from every part of Kashmir as an indication of the party’s expanding base.“He (CM Omar Abdullah) says one thing in Delhi and another in Kashmir,” Sunil Sharma told the rally, portraying Kashmiris in a negative light before the central government while NC leaders publicly sympathized with their plight in the Valley. “Why don’t people see this double talk?” He wondered.However, it was his attempt to draw a parallel between two defining moments in Kashmir’s history that drew particular attention and raised the hackles of the NC, which accused the BJP of “manufacturing narrative”.Sharma referred to the unrest in 2010, when more than 100 civilians, many of them teenagers, were killed in months of protests and clashes with police and security forces. Among the first killed were 13-year-old Wamiq Farooq and 17-year-old Tufail Mattu, whose deaths became a rallying point for mass protests. Sharma said that Omar had justified the killings of Wamik and Tufail and claimed that they were part of a “rebellion” against the then government led by him.The LOP was then invoked on July 13, 1931, when 22 people were shot dead by Maharaja Hari Singh’s forces outside Srinagar Jail during a protest against Dogra rule. The date is widely commemorated as ‘Martyr’s Day’ in Kashmir.Those killed in 1931 were remembered as ‘martyrs’ by the NC, while Wamik, Tufail and others killed in 2010 were charged with sedition, Sharma said, adding, “We need to think about this”.He accused the NC of exploiting “Kashmiri sentiments” after failing to fulfill economic promises, including jobs and 200 units of free electricity, and alleged that the government had outsourced 24,000 jobs to an unknown firm. “BJP will hit the streets against such secret recruitment,” he said.NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar denied the allegations. “The BJP has failed to fulfill its promise to restore the status of the state,” he said. Referring to July 13, 1931, Dar said the day symbolized the Kashmiri resistance against the monarchy and the demand for a Kashmiri identity. “The BJP is trying to create a fake narrative around it. They are trying the same with the 2010 incidents to create sentiment in their favor in Kashmir,” he said.
