BJP has ‘struck deals’ with regional parties, independents: Omar Abdullah
He criticised the Home Minister for not mentioning the Peoples Conference led by Sajad Lone and the Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari during the launch of the BJP manifesto.
National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that the Centre should lift the ban on government employees from participating in political functions on the lines it has done in case of RSS.
Replying to a question on the Centre’s decision to lift the ban on participating in RSS functions by government employees, Omar told reporters in Srinagar, “If they have to do this, then the ban on employees participating in functions of political parties should also be removed as RSS is a political organization.”
“Let the government employees come and join political parties. Such an order should be issued for other political parties as well,” he added.
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Welcoming the Supreme Court’s interim stay on the Kanwar Yatra order on eateries in UP and Uttrakhand, Omar asked the BJP government if it could issue such an order for the Amarnath Yatra. “If the Kanwar Yatra order was issued to keep Muslims away from that yatra, then for God’s sake tell me, when the Amarnath yatra takes place here, it is not possible without the Muslims,” Omar said.
The Kanwar Yatra order should not have been there in the first place, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir told reporters.
Referring to the annual Amarnath and Vaishno Devi yatras in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said they are not possible without the support of Muslims.
“The Amarnath yatris undertake the yatra on the shoulders of Muslims. The people who take Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims on horses or ‘pithus’ (porters), which religion do they belong to? They (BJP) do not see religion there,” he added.
The top court on Monday ordered an interim stay on the directives issued by BJP-ruled UP and Uttarakhand asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of their owners, staff and other details, a move the opposition has claimed is intended to promote religious discrimination.
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