Responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comments on his party's National Conference's (NC) manifesto, Omar Abdullah thanked Shah on Sunday for bringing attention to it and said that he ensured that everyone reads it. However, Abdullah criticized Shah for focusing on only "one paragraph of the manifesto."
"I thank the Union Home Minister for mentioning our election manifesto. He has forced everyone to read it. The sad part is that he focused on only one paragraph," Abdullah said. Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had accused the Congress of risking "the nation's unity and security to satiate its greed for power" following the Congress' announcement of an alliance with NC ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls.
Shah questioned whether Congress and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, supported promises made by NC in its election manifesto. Shah also questioned if the Congress party supports NC's promise of "a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir," the "JKNC's decision to restore Article 370 and 35A," and thereby "push Jammu and Kashmir back into an era of unrest and terrorism."
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He further asked if the Congress supports the promotion of "separatism again by engaging in dialogue with Pakistan instead of Kashmir's youth" and on the "National Conference's decision to start 'LoC Trade' with Pakistan" and thereby "nurturing terrorism and its ecosystem across the border." Further, speaking on the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said that he heard that Jamat-e-Islami, a politico-religious body based in the Valley, will participate in the elections.
"The best of democracy is that anyone can contest elections. Jamaat-e-Islami was trying to get the ban on it, uplifted, so that it could contest the elections. Now that the ban has not been lifted, I have heard they will contest the elections independently," he said. The central government had banned Jamaat-e-Islami in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for five years. Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled to take place in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with results to be announced on October 4.