Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held his first media interaction here Thursday, two-and-a-half months after taking over the post. Under increasing pressure from within the party and outside over his government’s limited powers, restoration of statehood was top of the issues the CM stressed on. Earlier, Omar has spoken about how “dual power centres” cannot work, and had presented a resolution seeking restoration of statehood to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to Delhi. On Thursday, Omar also sought to dispel the notion that he was under any pressure from the Centre. Besides this, the CM talked about the power situation in the Valley amidst peak winter, the status of the ruling National Conference’s alliance with the Congress, and whether Article 370 abrogation had solved the Kashmir issue. The five takeaways: * ‘Centre has told us clearly that we have the mandate’ Pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself committed to restoration of statehood to J&K, Abdullah said he wanted to give the Centre “the first opportunity” to do so rather than going back to courts. “Every government or every individual has recourse to courts. But that was never going to be our first option,” he said, adding that doing so would amount to a “fight”. Terming the lack of statehood his “biggest challenge”, the CM said: “J&K runs a deficit budget, therefore we are more dependent on the Government of India than other states and UTs.” At the same time, Omar said, his government was under no pressure to “change our thinking or our language or our agenda” – from the PM, Union Home Ministry or anyone from the BJP or Raj Bhavan. “From the first day, the PM and the HM (Home Minister) have told me that ‘You have been given the mandate and we are in the Opposition. There will be no effort to destabilise this government. The support that we extended to the Lieutenant Governor will be extended to you. We will respect the mandate of the people of J&K’. These are the words of the PM and HM,” Omar said. The CM said that the Union government was not blind to the “benefits” of the elections that saw enthusiastic participation by the people of J&K. “The biggest promise the Central government made to the people of J&K is restoration of statehood… When the Supreme Court gave its verdict about a year ago, it said that statehood be restored ‘as soon as possible’. It has been a year and we believe that that’s enough.” The biggest responsibility of his own government, Omar said, was to respect “the sentiments and aspirations” of the people of J&K. On the challenges of running an elected government in a Union Territory, Omar said, “Obviously dual centres of power are not to anyone's advantage… It is one of the peculiarities of a UT that dual systems of power are built into the structure, which is why I said that this is a learning period for us… understanding where our authority begins and ends.” On “rifts” between the government and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the CM said: “Some of the prickliness is more a figment of imagination than reality… There have been one or two areas where there have been differences of opinion in terms of 'whose authority it is', but it's not as widespread as you would like to believe it is.” At the same time, “for clarity to be built into the system”, he said that the much-delayed Rules of Business laying out the demarcation of powers should be specified at the earliest. * ‘First let’s save jobs, land, then talk reservations’ With extension of reservations following the abrogation of Article 370 triggering protests, including by NC MP Aga Mehdi Ruhullah, Omar sought to play down the issue. The first priority of his government was to “save jobs and land of the people of J&K”, he said. Noting that a Cabinet sub-committee was considering the reservation issue, the CM said it would come out with its findings within six months. “Parallelly, the High Court (of J&K and Ladakh) is also hearing this… I am of the belief that whether you are from the open or reserved category, today the fear is that our jobs aren't just for us, our land isn't just for us. We have to save these for ourselves first and then we can fight over reservations,” he said. The NC as well as other J&K parties have expressed the fear that with the modification of restrictions on “outsiders” following the scrapping of special status, the residents would end up losing the first right to jobs and land in the Union Territory. * ‘If Kashmir issue resolved, what about the part across LoC?’ The BJP talks about the abrogation of special status as having resolved the Kashmir issue. Questioning this, Omar said: "For a minute if we assume that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir on this side (of the Line of Control) has been resolved forever, there is a part of Jammu-Kashmir on the other side as well. When the BJP says that the Kashmir issue has been resolved forever, does it mean that the issue has been resolved for the part of Jammu-Kashmir that is across the LoC as well?" Since that has not happened, the CM said: “The Kashmir issue still exists. We can debate about this part or that part, but the Kashmir issue has not been resolved. We too want it to be resolved.” Omar's stand is more or less consistent with the NC’s, which advocates resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue while maintaining that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Unlike its rival PDP, which also talks of engagement with Pakistan, the NC is careful about the “external dimension” of the problem, keen not to upset New Delhi or its constituency that lies in both Jammu and Kashmir. As CM in his previous stint, Omar had invited controversies with speeches on the floor of the House saying Kashmir has only "acceded and not merged" with India. However, his tenure this time has been marked by a tightrope between the aspirations of the people and New Delhi. * ‘Free power promise on the cards, but meters essential’ Over the past month, as temperatures have fallen to sub-zero amid intermittent snowfall, the Valley has been struggling with power cuts. Improving the electricity situation figured among promises made by all the parties during the recent Assembly elections, with demand outstripping supply even during summer months. A few days ago, Omar put out on social media that he had decided to function from Srinagar, though the government is currently operating from Jammu due to peak winter, so as to keep a close watch on the hardships being faced by people because of freezing temperatures. At the press meeting, Omar said: “We witness these difficulties every winter, but we are providing more electricity this year than previous years. However, even now (power) cuts are necessary. The load is several times the supply.” Regarding the NC’s poll promise of providing 200 units of electricity free, the CM said: “This will only happen when there are smart meters in place… By March or April, we will roll out this scheme, but obviously those with meters will get the benefit of the scheme.” However, J&K has been seeing protests over the setting up of these meters as well. * ‘Haven’t heard of any change from Cong end’ At the time of government formation, the Congress had taken everyone by surprise by deciding to stay out and support the NC from outside. Reduced to six seats, the party is in no position anyway to dictate terms to the NC. Asked about the Congress continuing to remain outside the government, Omar said: “The National Conference is part of the INDIA bloc, the Congress is supporting our government, and at the moment it is outside support. They have said that they will remain out until statehood is restored. I haven't heard of any change after that.”
