Jammu and Kashmir, March 20 : Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that although he had no problem in chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, it should not be considered a test of nationalism.
“I have no problem with the slogan Bharat Mata Ki Jai, but why are you asking for a certificate to prove nationalism? I know what I feel for my nation, I don’t need to prove it to anyone by raising slogans,” Omar Abdullah said, while at the Guru Nanak National College, Doraha. “I am what I am, why should I need a certificate or produce one? Mai koi nara aapki khushi ke liye nahii kahunga, jo mere dil me hai voh hai, vo saabit karne ki zaroorat nahi (I won’t chant any slogan for your happiness. I will say what is in my heart, I do not need to prove that).”
Abdullah’s statements come in the wake of Maharashtra Assembly suspending a legislator for not chanting the slogan.
On the PDP-BJP government formation in his state he said, “According to me, after 10 months of their rule, there is not much of an alliance between PDP and BJP left now. So, literally speaking, there is no government in J&K and NC is ready for re-election anytime from now.”
The National Conference working President also touched upon the turmoil in the Congress in Uttarakhand and blamed it on the BJP. “The Situation in Uttarakhand is like in the 80s. The way the Congress was dismantling state governments then, the BJP is doing the same. It is not a good sign in a democracy,” he said. He conferred 438 degrees to PG students at the college.
