Governor's Office Is Not BJP Office

Omar Abdullah, working president of the National Conference and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, is one of India’s outspoken politicians. On November 21, his party sprang a surprise by offering support to its arch-rival, the Peoples Democratic Party, to stake claim to form government in the state, which was under governor’s rule.

- Tariq Bhat

The two parties, along with the Congress, thus stymied an effort by the BJP to install a government led by Sajjad Lone of the Peoples Conference with the help of defectors from the PDP, a party with which it had shared power five months before in the Mehbooba Mufti government. Citing horse-trading, Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly after both Mehbooba and Lone staked claims. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Omar explains why his party supported its rival and how it plans to face the assembly election due in six months. Excerpts:

Your party extended support to Mehbooba Mufti to form government last month. A rare moment in Kashmir politics?

I had made a similar offer after the elections in 2015. The Congress also reiterated its support. At that time we were aware of some sort of dialogue between the PDP and the BJP. We knew that any attempt to bring the BJP into the state in a formal capacity will have disastrous consequences. Our fears were proven to be correct. We have seen very sharp deterioration in the state since January 2015. That said, this discussion with the PDP last month was out of our concern about the direction in which the state was going even under the governor. We felt that on critical cases that are pending before the Supreme Court, on Article 35A and on Resettlement Bill, the clarity that we wanted from the Centre and the governor’s office was not forthcoming.

So you wanted to checkmate the BJP?

Not just checkmate the BJP. It was about safeguarding the wider interests of the state. I think it would be extremely unfortunate if Raj Bhavan is functioning purely at the behest of a political party. The governor is meant to be apolitical and that’s what we expect. I still would believe that the governor’s office is not the BJP office. That is something only the governor himself can clarify.