Omar Abdullah: Foolish to seek Article 370 restoration from Modi govt; statehood for J&K immediate priority

National Conference (NC) vice president, Omar Abdullah has said that he did not expect restoration of Article 370 from Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the centre. The immediate priority of the next NC-Congress government in the Union Territory would be restoration of statehood, Omar said.

The restoration of special status was one of the key pre-poll manifesto promises of NC, which eventually ended up winning elections in the Union Territory, along with its alliance partner, the Congress.

“None of us are foolish enough, not did we try and convince the voters that we were going to work on our 370 agenda with this current (Modi) government in Delhi. We know that you are not going to get it back from the government that took it away. So set that aside for now,” Abdullah told a TV channel.

Modi government at the Centre abrogated Article 370, that have special status to Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The government also downgraded the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Restoring Artilce 370 

In its assembly election manifesto released on August 19, 2024, the National Conference promised 12 guarantees, including restoration of Article 370 and 35 A, repeal of the Public Safety Act (PSA), the release of political prisoners, one lakh job creation, and restoration of the India-Pakistan dialogue.

The Congress party, the NC alliance partner in the elections, however, did not make any pre-poll promises in its separate manifesto. The NC-Congress alliance won the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections by winning 49 seats in the 90-member house in the results declared on Tuesday. While the NC bagged 42 seats, the Congress won six seats. One seat was bagged by CPI-M.

“Our immediate priority is to work with the government in Delhi to get statehood back for Jammu and Kashmir. Now in that respect, I believe that the Prime Minister is an hounarable man. He has promised people of Jammu and Kashmir that statehood will be restored… And therefore once the government is formed, I would like to believe that the Chief Minister will come to Delhi, talk to the PM and other and establish a good working relationship,” Omar said, adding that a ‘hostile’ relationship is not in the interest of Jammu and Kashmir and that of the Union government.

Abdullah, who won both the Budgam and Ganderbal seat, is in all likelihood to be the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir for the second time. The party MLAs are meeting on Thursday to pick a leader to be the CM.