BJP calls for boycott of Omar, Congress ministers

JAMMU - Furious over Chief Minister Omar Abdullah repeatedly rasing questions about Jammu and Kashmir’s status, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday called for a boycott of all his functions and that of Congress ministers for their silence on the issue.

BJP’s state unit president Shamsher Singh Manhas urged people to “boycott the functions of the chief minister unless he takes back his comments on the status of Jammu and Kashmir with India”.

Manhas told media persons Thursday morning that the party would organise a series of protest programmes from Saturday when it has called for three-hour shutdown.

“There would be a complete shutdown for three hours from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, he said.

The BJP leader also called for the boycott of functions of all Congress ministers of the Jammu region for what he called their “mysterious silence over the anti-national remarks” of the chief minister.

Omar’s National Conference rules Kashmir in alliance with the Congress.

Omar had questioned the status of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession with India in 1947 and had called for a “final settlement of Kashmir dispute” in his speech in the state assembly Oct 6.

Thereafter, he has repeatedly asserted a similar position, rebuffing the BJP and other groups that had asked him to retract his remarks.