Says CM Omar’s ‘Mr. Bechara’ charade has demolished careers; Demands rebut to LG’s claims on exam delay fiasco
Srinagar, December 7:
J&K Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara Sajad Gani Lone sharply criticized Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a press conference on Sunday, calling him “Mr. Bechara” for failing to secure age relaxation for JKAS exams while leaving thousands of aspirants in the lurch.
In his statement, Lone demanded a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal to the Lieutenant Governor’s (LG) recent clarifications, exposing what he called a toxic mix of incompetence, political opportunism and policy betrayals.
PC President made these hard-hitting remarks at an important press conference held at the party headquarters in Srinagar, flanked by State Secretary (Organisation) Sheikh Imran, District President Srinagar Irfan Mattoo and Party Spokesperson Muneeb Quraishi.
He highlighted the elected government’s baffling inaction, saying “The notification for this examination was released on August 22nd. Then on November 6th, another notification was issued clarifying that the exam would be held on December 7th. I fail to understand how much time the elected government had… what were they so busy with that they could not process this file? And finally, those poor youth, they also have dreams, they had worked hard & now their chance to sit for JKAS is gone.”
Lone zeroed in on CM’s narrative of helplessness, referencing LG’s Twitter post claiming a simple query on funding was ignored after December 2.
“The time has come that CM has to reply to it point by point. If it is true that on December 2nd, the file was sent back with a simple query asking ‘who will pay for the expenses,’ and no reply was given, then he is answerable. He is creating a set of conditions to prove that he is a ‘Bechara’, Mr. Helpless. But ‘Mr. Bechara’ at the cost of whom? At the cost of those students who now could not sit for the exams,” he remarked.
Lone drew stark parallels to unchecked demolitions and unfulfilled electoral pledges. “How long will this go on? Demolitions happen and ‘Mr. Helpless’ says, ‘I don’t even know.’ Anything happens and ‘Mr. Helpless’ says, ‘I don’t know.’ How long will this last? And I want to say, a Chief Minister who painted all of us as BJP before the elections while claiming the earth and sky were all BJP and gave a promise that he is fighting on the plank of Article 370 and 35A, Are you so capable that you couldn’t even get age relaxation for your students? Do you really think that you can get anything back? Let alone 370 and 35A.”
“The CM’s dignity in the Union Territory setup is now “in danger,” Lone warned, urging a written response: “He should come out in detail and in a written format, rebut point by point what has been said. Otherwise, in my eyes, in the eyes of the people, he is guilty of trying to create a set of conditions wherein he is seen as a martyr at the cost of those thousands of aspirants who had dreamt of sitting for the KAS. And let us face it, many of them might have been selected. He has demolished their careers today.”
Dismissing pleas of limited powers, Lone pointed to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s success in a “weaker UT.”
“This is a matter of incompetence. They are just not in the mood to do it. Where will they find the time? Someone should tell me. He holds many big portfolios including Finance, Revenue, Power, Tourism, Urban Development. Five departments. A person of his capabilities, it will take five people just to run Finance. It is out of the question.” He added, “We also want Statehood, we want our 370 back. But extract the maximum from what you have right now. When he Kejriwal could do it in Delhi, why couldn’t you? It is your own whims not to do so”
Lone escalated his criticism on CM’s duplicity at the Hindustan Times Summit, where he dismissed EVM rigging claims, echoing his father Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s views, while calling the INDIA Bloc “in the ICU, on a ventilator and moving on a wheelchair.”
“You tell me with your hand on your heart, would even the biggest enemy of the INDIA Bloc say such things? Look at this classic double play. The father believes the Congress version and Omar Sahib himself believes the BJP version. There is a limit to double play in the year 2025 when you are covered by cameras.”
He further mocked the leadership’s BJP flirtations: “The people who voted for them, on the premise that everyone else is BJP, I am telling them today: go apologize to the others. Look at how he is groveling there. Literally begging them, ‘Take me into your embrace, please take me along.’… They have only one desire: when will they get a photo taken with the PM or the Home Minister. You will see that soon. Here in Kashmir, they say everyone is BJP, but when they go there, you know, if they get a photo, my God. They won’t talk to anyone all day, they will be over the moon.”
Citing history, from 1975’s Congress-backed regime to rigged 1987 polls, Lone accused the family of chronic blame-shifting.
“They have a history. In 1975, Sheikh Sahib became Chief Minister with Congress support. Yet ten times a day he would accuse others of being Congress agents. Now when the recent election happened, everyone was BJP. But at that time, CM conveyed to the BJP, ‘Sir, I am with you, I am your dear Foreign Minister from Vajpayee’s time.”
On policy, PC President decried the failure to reverse LG-era outsourcing, turning “government jobs into private jobs.”
“A party which came to power promising to create 100,000 jobs is actually in the process of converting existing government jobs into private jobs. If their salary is 100 rupees, the outsourcing guy takes 120 or 130 rupees. Unfortunately nobody is talking about it. Urban development has outsourcing. Social Welfare has outsourcing. They will bring everything under outsourcing.”
In a final jab, Lone blamed local leaders for the mess saying “This was done by ‘Tut’. I am 100% sure ‘Tut’ did it. ‘Ut’ didn’t do it. ‘Tut’ also did the demolition. I guarantee it. Because ‘Tut’ was the one who had to become ‘Mr. Bechara’.