Why Omar Abdullah’s Raga For Good Ties With Delhi Strikes Right Notes

Both the newly-elected National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah and the Centre certainly started off on the right note. While PM Modi complimented the NC leader for his party’s commendable performance in winning 42 seats across J&K, Omar promptly thanked PM Modi, quickly adding that “we look forward to a constructive relationship in the true spirit of federalism so that the people of J&K may benefit from continued development and good governance.” Even in media interactions, Omar was careful to suggest that his party would not push for Article 370 — an item on its manifesto — as of  now as he did not wish to be irritating the Centre. “We are not foolish to think we will get Article 370 back. We already have hostile neighbours on both sides. We want strong relations with the Central government”. He acknowledged PM Modi was an honourable man who had promised to restore statehood to J&K once the polls were over. Now that they are, he was only hoping it would be done soon. However reports that J& K LG Manoj Sinha could nominate five members from the BJP to the assembly worried Omar. He said such a move could contribute to friction between the elected government and the Centre and the new government would be compelled to approach the Supreme Court challenging it.  Another big challenge for the new government is how to give representation to the Hindu-dominated mainland Jammu, where the NC-Congress combine have won no seat. The 8 seats the two parties – NC 7, Cong 1 — won in the Jammu province all fall in its hilly areas. Yes, the BJP swept the entire predominantly Hindu-inhabited areas across the Jammu province picking up 29 assembly seats.