Omar should quit at the earliest: Advani

NEW DELHI - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is an “administrative failure” and the sooner he quits, the better it will be for the state and for the nation, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Sunday.

He said the demand for Abdullah’s resignation was being made on the ground that he had “totally failed” to deal with the situation created in the Valley by stone-pelting mobs.

“There were elements willing to attribute it to his administrative inexperience. But this latest speech of his reveals that he is not just an administrative failure, but that in so far as J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) is concerned, he is totally out of tune with the national mood. The earlier he quits the better it would be for Jammu and Kashmir as well as for the nation,” Advani said in the latest post on his blog.

Referring to Abdullah’s speech in the assembly that the state had acceded to India and not merged, Advani said that all of nearly 500 princely states that became an integral part of India after Independence had signed the same instrument of accession that was signed by Jammu and Kashmir.

“Fact is that all the over 500 princely states, including Hyderabad and Junagarh which Omar specifically mentioned as being different from Jammu and Kashmir, have become integral parts of India after Independence and had signed the same Instrument of Accession that Jammu and Kashmir signed, he said.

Advani also took exception to Abdullah chiding the BJP over its stance on Kashmir.

“Over the last six decades, it is not the BJP alone that has described Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of Indian territory but every single leader of the country from Pandit Nehru to Smt. Indira Gandhi to our present External Affairs Minister, Shri S.M. Krishna, who have affirmed this,” he said.

He said both the separatists in the state as well as the Pakistani media “have gone into raptures” over the chief minister’s remarks in the state assembly.

Advani said the Kashmir movement launched by Jan Sangh ideologue S.P Mookerji and his death in detention accomplished the party’s objectives of “One President and One Flag” for the state.

“The third objective, One Constitution, is still to be achieved. And we are determined to achieve it,” he said, referring to his party’s demand for abrogating Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“But not many may be aware that even in the separate constitution that Jammu and Kashmir state has by virtue of Art 370, Sec. 3 reads as follows: Relationship of the State with the Union of India - The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India,” Advani said.