Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Monday that there will be no discrimination on the basis of region or religion between Kashmir and Jammu in the distribution of relief to those affected by the recent floods.
On the sidelines of the session, Omar emphasised that it is “not our politics,” and that it is, in fact, “the BJP that has kept nearly 15 per cent of the country’s population out of representation in the Centre”.
Omar was responding to a question raised by BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma on the second day of the ongoing Assembly session. Sharma had asked whether the government had formulated a fresh policy for the rehabilitation of flood victims.
While stating that there is no fresh policy to this effect, the CM said in the House that a proposal regarding the allotment of state land “measuring five marlas in favour of each landless family affected due to natural calamities on a lease basis for residential purposes only” is under consideration by his government.
Denying allegations by the Opposition of “regional bias” on the part of his government, Omar said, “That is not our politics. The Government of India sent its team, and our people worked with them to assess damage. The Home Minister also made a visit to some areas.”
In the government’s own assessment, the damage in Jammu is more than in Kashmir, compared to the floods in 2014, he said. “We have not made any attempts to equate this damage. We have prepared a package and are going to send it to the Centre. As soon as we have approval from the Government of India, we will start distributing relief. No concerns of region or religion will be considered in this,” he said.
On the sidelines of the session, Omar took on the BJP again, stating that it is the BJP that does its politics based on religion. “Neither in Lok Sabha nor Rajya Sabha, the BJP does not have a single Muslim MP,” he said.
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Omar also asserted that the NC is the “only party” taking the BJP head-on in J&K and that the NC “does not operate on secret understandings”. “We took them on in the Rajya Sabha elections and we are taking them on in Nagrota. Even the Congress did not field its candidates. Where are the candidates of other parties in Nagrota?” he asked.