Srinagar:
The controversial hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had been carried out for “political reasons” by the UPA government which had informed him only hours before, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said today.
Out for a dinner with his sister at a Delhi restaurant, Omar received a call from the then Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde informing him that he had signed the papers for Guru to be hanged early next morning and asking him to make law and order arrangements.
Even as a last minute effort, Omar told PTI, “I asked the Home Minister whether he was sure that nothing can be done. He said no as he had signed the paper and warrant has been issued and asked me to deal with the implications.”
Pointing out that the cases of assassins of Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh had been handled differently, he said, “the fact is whether we like it or not he was hanged for political reasons. It’s a fact.”
“I had said I will not pass judgement on it until I see how Government handles other cases... I have seen other cases. Look how they handled assassins of Beant Singh and Rajiv Gandhi and look how they jumped this guy up the queue.
“Clearly what other conclusion can you arrive at other than this that they wanted to deny BJP another handle to beat them with in the general elections and, therefore, the easiest two people to be hanged were Ajmal Kasab because he was a foreign national and Afzal Guru. Whether I like it or not but they did it,” he said.
Guru, who was at serial number 28 in the list of condemned prisoners, was hanged on February 9, 2013. A controversy broke out as his family got news of his hanging on television.
Omar, working President of National Conference which lost power in the December, 2014, elections, termed the Guru issue a ‘sword of Damocles’ hanging over him, saying he had been apprising the Centre from time to time about the implications of Guru’s execution.
“The Afzal Guru execution was something that was discussed all through my tenure. Because we knew it was like a sword of Damocles hanging over us. So from time to time the implications of it were conveyed to the Government of India both to Mr P Chidambaram and to Mr Shinde,” he said.
The implications were always conveyed to the Centre but the concerns multiplied when Kasab, lone survivor of the terrorist team which created mayhem in Mumbai on 26/11, was hanged, he said.
“The general feeling was this that once they have done this, Guru is going to be next and I did place my reservations on record at the time as to what the implications of this would be,” the former Chief Minister said, adding that he was “told that a decision hasn’t been taken but it is being contemplated”.
Omar Abdullah today came out in strong support of Arvind Kejriwal on the issue of his ongoing tussle with the Delhi Lt Governor, saying Jammu and Kashmir had to pay a “heavy price” for similar issues involving the office of the chief minister and the Raj Bhavan.
The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said that Kejriwal, with an overwhelming mandate to run the government, should have the “freedom and flexibility” to choose his team instead of an “unelected LG”.
“I have been the Chief Minister of a state and particularly where this perception often comes in of New Delhi running the state from the backseat. Either don’t have a government in Delhi. Run it through the L-G’s office, which is fine.
“But why have an election where you elect the chief minister and then tie his/her hands behind the back and then take decisions. Nobody has elected the LG of Delhi,” he told PTI.
Abdullah, who had earlier backed Kejriwal through a series of tweets, said numerous governments were “dismissed” in Jammu and Kashmir over similar tussle between the Chief Minister’s office and the governors.
“People of Delhi have elected Kejriwal whether you like it or not. You have to give that person freedom and flexibility to choose his/her team and then to succeed or fail but not like this where you end up in a sort of power tussle.
“J&K has paid a very heavy price for this sort of tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the CM’s office. We had numerous governments that have been dismissed and sort of machinations that we have seen Raj Bhavan indulge in,” he said.
The former J&K CM said although he had no personal rapport with Kejriwal and was yet to meet him, his support was based purely “on principle”.
“I have a whole lot of sympathy for Kejriwal on this issue. It (support) was purely on principle. I mean I believe that (opinion expressed through tweets), not because I have any personal rapport with him,” he said.
Referring to AAP’s massive electoral victory and stunning majority in the Delhi Assembly, Abdullah said it would not be repeated as the verdict was based “purely on expectations”.
“But it doesn’t go beyond that. The verdict that the guy has got, I hope he enjoys it because he is never going to have it again. It’s inconceivable (67 out of 70 MLAs) because he will have a track record that he will have to explain and there is no way he is going to to be able to realise those expectations to the point that he gets 67 out of 70 next time,” he said.
The appointment of senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary by the LG last week had triggered a full-blown war between the ruling AAP and the Lt Governor with Kejriwal questioning the LG’s authority and accusing him of trying to take over the administration.
The Centre yesterday issued a notification giving absolute powers to the LG in appointment of bureaucrats and clarifying that he need not “consult” the chief minister on subjects like police and public order.
Rahul Gandhi preferred silence during the UPA regime as speaking his mind would have meant either being critical of the Prime Minister or his mother, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said and termed as “amazing transformation” the Congress vice president’s approach after his 56-day sabbatical.
“The Rahul who left is not the Rahul who has came back,” Omar said on Rahul aggressively taking on the Modi government.
“That’s an amazing transformation. I don’t know what it’s down to. I haven’t had the chance to meet up with him as he has been incredibly busy but I don’t know where he went and what he did...
“What this transformation is down to, I will try and learn because I guess there are lessons to be learnt for myself in that as well. I just hope that it doesn’t mean I have to disappear for 56 days. But it’s good. Hats off to him,” Omar told PTI here.
He said speaking for Rahul earlier was always going to be difficult. “For him to speak his mind would have meant either being critical of his prime minister or critical of his mother. And that was never going to be easy. And therefore I think his option was then to keep quiet and that allowed the perception to grow that he couldn’t speak and did not know what he wanted to say,” he said.
Rahul had a lot to say but he just wasn’t in a position to be able to say it which is the advantage of being in the opposition where one just gets to speak his or her mind, he said.
Omar hoped that Rahul will be able to sustain this momentum till the next general elections.
“The question which people are asking and I am sure he will really prove them wrong is if he will be able to sustain it. People are wondering whether this is going to be splash in the pan...two months, three months, four months and then nothing.
“I think, from what I know of him, now that he has set his mind, this is what he will have till next general elections,” he said.
It is impossible to micro-manage
India or run it as a “one man show”, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah commented today as the Modi government completes one year in office.
Omar recalled Modi’s stewardship of Gujarat and said, “Running a state and running a country are two very different things. It’s tough enough to micro-manage a state, even a state like Gujarat. It’s impossible to micro-manage a country and a country the size of India you can’t do it.
“And therefore if every decision has to be sort of looked at a micro level right up to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), it’s not going to happen,” Omar told PTI here.
When asked about the perception that PMO was micro-managing the affairs, Omar said, “Look I am not sitting in PMO. I am not in the Cabinet. I am just telling you that the perception one has talking to friends in government and in business picking up from what the media has to say, there is no doubt that decisions that needed to be taken are not being taken. And the general perception is that’s because the PMO...very heavy PMO is involved in all these decisions.”
On the performance of the Modi government, he said “... The Prime Minister and his ministers are victims of their own campaign. They raised expectations to a place where delivery was always going to be difficult and impossible.”
He said people had lot of expectations especially because after a long time, a single party had come to power. “People expected a lot more in terms of delivery on some tricky issues that he has been promising and clearly that has not been happening.
“Whether it is the economy, whether it is areas to do with defence and other governance related issues. Simple matters like putting a right person in right place for bodies like vigilance commission and information commission,” he said.
“It’s actually surprising how such a Chief Minister, who was known to be decisive, has allowed a situation where he has allowed a perception where his government is seen indecisive on crucial areas,” he said.
