Synopsis
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated that the region is suffering because the roadmap left by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was forgotten. He believes that if India had followed Vajpayee’s path to deal with J&K, the region wouldn’t be in its current situation. Abdullah praised Vajpayee’s initiatives like the Lahore bus journey and Agra summit as attempts to mend India-Pakistan relations.
ANIJammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday praised the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stating that the region is suffering because the roadmap he left was forgotten.
Speaking on the second day of the ongoing assembly session in Srinagar, Abdullah paid tributes to 57 former legislators of J&K assembly and prominent national politicians who had passed away since 2018 when the last session was held under the erstwhile state. Among others, the legislators paid tributes to Pranab Mukherjee, Sitaram Yechuri, Somnath Chatterjee, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Bhim Singh and Madan Lal Sharma.
“Vajpayeeji always tried to mend relations between India and Pakistan which are often soured due to J&K. I believe that if we had followed the path of Vajpayee to deal with J&K, we would not have been in this position we are in right now,” said Abdullah. “The road map he left for us, we divorced from that path. It is difficult to differ with his policies.”
Abdullah said that Vajpayee was a rare statesman and true visionary who understood the complexities of J&K and pioneered initiatives such as the Lahore bus journey, a historic visit to Minar-e-Pakistan and Agra summit. “Vajpayee believed in people-to-people connections and opened cross-LoC (Line of Control) roads, hoping to mend wounds through shared relationships… but unfortunately we have created more distances now,” he said.
The CM said that Vajpayee had realised that not entertaining the autonomy resolution passed by Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference government in 2000 was a hasty decision. “He had then nominated late Arun Jaitley to initiate a dialogue process with the J&K government on the autonomy resolution, but unfortunately the BJP government didn’t continue,” he said.
Abdullah also paid tributes to his friend and former aide Devender Singh Rana, who was a sitting MLA of BJP from Nagrota constituency of Jammu. “Devender was more than a colleague; he was a dear friend with whom I shared prime years of my political life. I didn’t know about his health issues. Had I known it, I would have tried to mend relations with him,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma also paid tributes to the late legislators and said Vajpayee was an inspiration for all. “Lahore bus and Agra summit were peace initiatives of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but he was deceived. We should look at things holistically. This assembly cannot delve on those issues and GoI (Government of India) is dealing with it, but things should be read and understood holistically,” RS Pathania of BJP said in his speech.
