Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, speaking at an event on Wednesday, said that the abrogation of Article 370 has not been “accepted” by the people of the Union Territory, arguing that electoral outcomes reflect continued public unease over the decision rather than consent.
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No uniform public response to Article 370 decision
Abdullah made the remark while responding to a question at the Express Adda event held by Indian Express.
While acknowledging the absence of daily street protests, he rejected the idea that silence should be interpreted as approval.
“If by acceptance you mean people aren’t coming out on the streets everyday and protesting against it, that’s true they are not. But does that mean they have willingly accepted the changes that have been made? No. If they had, then perhaps BJP and the parties associated with the BJP would’ve done significantly better in the Assembly elections last year.”
He further said, “To suggest that there is one uniform thought process across all the people of the Valley would be to simplify a very complex situation. No I mean, there is that constituency that doesn’t accept Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India. Period. Regardless of 370 or no 370.”
‘No short-term solution’ to current situation
Elaborating further, the leader said there are multiple political constituencies in the region, including those aligned with the BJP, but maintained that a significant section remains unhappy with the constitutional changes made nearly five years ago.
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“Then there’s a constituency that quite happily identifies with the BJP…there there’s a large group in the middle that is deeply unhappy with the change that was made. But there is no short term solution to what has happened.”
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