SRINAGAR, JULY 11: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday mounted his strongest attack yet on the Centre over the statehood issue, cautioning the PM Modi led BJP government not to mistake his administration’s restraint for surrender and demanding a categorical definition of its oft-repeated phrase—”appropriate time”.
Addressing a massive workers’ convention at Naseem Bagh in Hazratbal on the 26th death anniversary of his grandmother and party matriarch Akbar Jehan, CM Omar as per Kashmir Convener said the National Conference had deliberately chosen dialogue over confrontation, but warned that this should not be seen as a sign of capitulation.
“Patience is not weakness. Patience is not silence. Do not take undue advantage of it,” he said, in remarks that signal a significant hardening of his government’s stance ahead of the party’s planned protest at Jantar Mantar on July 20.
The rally, the first such gathering at the mausoleum of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Akbar Jehan since the early 1990s, was a carefully orchestrated show of strength.
Eye witnesses told Kashmir Convener, hundreds of NC workers poured into the historic Naseem Bagh, sending a clear message to New Delhi that the party is ready to move beyond polite persuasion.
During the address to the massive gathering of NC workers, CM Omar alleged that the BJP-led dispensation was running Jammu and Kashmir through the Lieutenant Governor’s office, effectively rendering the elected government powerless.
“Why did you allow us to form the government if you will not let it function? What is the point of this government? Then you should not have held the elections,” he said, questioning the very purpose of the assembly polls that brought the NC to power.
CM Omar claimed he had raised the statehood issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but alleged that “the reality is that they want to keep the situation like this”—a charge that puts the Centre on notice that the elected government’s patience is wearing thin.
The Chief Minister saved his sharpest words for the Centre’s repeated promise of statehood at an “appropriate time”—a formulation that has become a source of growing frustration within the NC and the wider political establishment in J&K.
“I ask them, for God’s sake, how will we know that the appropriate time has come? What do I and my colleagues have to do to reach that appropriate time?” he demanded, throwing the ambiguity back at the Centre.
“Does the appropriate time mean when the BJP comes to power in Jammu and Kashmir? If that is the case, say it openly. Stop keeping the people in deception.” CM Omar said.
Referring to the voter turnout in parliamentary and assembly elections, he asked how many more elections people would have to contest in the hope that statehood would eventually be restored—a question that underlines the growing electoral fatigue and political uncertainty in the UT
On the issue of urban local body and panchayat elections, CM Omar asserted that while his government was in favour of holding them, the decision on the “appropriate time” for those polls would be taken by his government, not by Delhi.
“Both sides can use this phrase—appropriate time. You have made a joke of our patience, our decency and our silence. Do you want to light a fire here?” he asked, in one of his most pointed warnings to the Centre yet.
Meanwhile, sources in the party told Kashmir Convener that the Hazratbal rally marks a watershed moment in the NC’s post-August 5 politics. For three decades, the party had avoided gathering at the graveside of its founders, mindful of security sensitivities and the charged symbolism of the venue. Saturday’s event was not merely a commemorative exercise—it was a statement of intent.
Sources said that by choosing Naseem Bagh, CM Omar Abdullah has signalled that his government is prepared to escalate the political battle over statehood. The timing, coming just days before the Jantar Mantar protest, suggests that the NC is building momentum for a sustained campaign rather than a one-off demonstration sources added.
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