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Speaking on the occasion of the celebration of the J&K Legislative Assembly, Abdullah praised the former prime minister.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee | Image/File
Prime Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said that if the decision of the BJP at the center had accepted the approach of Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, Jammu and Kashmir would not have been in the present situation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the JK Legislative Assembly celebration, Abdullah praised the former prime minister, saying Vajpayee “always tried to improve the situation in JK”.
When Vajpayee went to Pakistan in 1999 in a Delhi-Lahore maiden bus, he visited the Minar-in-Pakistan “which is not easy to do”, the chief minister said.
“Then he stopped at the border and said we can change friends but not neighbors. Vajpayee said dialogue is the only way out. He also extended the hand of friendship despite the challenges he faced,” added Abdullah, the Leader of the House.
“I know him (Vajpayee) and have worked with him as a minister in his council. When we remember Vajpayee, we remember him with reference to JK. He was always trying to fix the situation in JK, trying to ease the situation,” he said.
“He worked to open the routes across the LoC which were later closed. He wanted to bring people closer together. He tried to bring the community together. Today they are trying to divide us,” Abdullah added.
The chief minister said that if Vajpayee’s approach had been accepted, Jammu and Kashmir would not have been in the “state it is in”.
“After he left, his way was forgotten. The design he had given had been forgotten. What can we do?” he said.
Referring to the words of MLA Kulgam MY Tarigami about the decision of independence brought by the then NC government in the assembly in 2000, Abdullah said that although it is true that the decision was taken back, but “Vajpayee realized later that the government acted quickly.”.
“Therefore, he appointed chief minister Arun Jaitley to hold talks with the JK government about it,” the chief minister said, adding that it would be difficult to disagree with Vajpayee’s intentions in JK.
The Leader of the House said the list of funeral references was huge which showed “how big the gap was between our two times”.
He said the last session of this type was in 2018.
“57 people – former president, former prime minister, former governor, MPs and former MLCs are on the list. This will probably be the last time we pay tribute to the people of Ladakh as they are no longer part of us,” he added.
Abdullah also said that there are 45 people on the list that he has worked with or known to him, and then he mentioned a few.
Paying tribute to Pranab Mukherjee, Abdullah said there is a lot to learn from the life of the former president.
“Mukherjee had no godfathers and was not parachuted into politics. He worked hard,” he said, adding that he did justice in all the positions he held.
The Leader of the House also paid tribute to former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and others, including his former colleague and BJP leader Devendra Singh Rana who died last week.
Speaking about Rana, he said, “If there are any colleagues, I am saddened by the loss of Rana.” In the heat of the election, we said hurtful things. But, I didn’t know that he was so sick. If I had known, I would have tried to improve our relationship. ” He also recalled his close political association with the late Nagrota MLA over 20 years and praised him for fulfilling all his responsibilities, in the National Congress and BJP, with dedication.
The prime minister said that all the 56 people on the death list have done something to serve the people and “we should examine their writings to learn from them”.
After his speech, the House was silent for two minutes as a mark of respect for the departed souls.
(This story was not edited by News18 staff and was published by an integrated news agency – PTI)
- Location :
Jammu and Kashmir, India
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