J&K Assembly’s First Order Of Business Is To Undo Centre’s 5 August 2019 Decision: Omar Abdullah

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said the J&K’s assembly in its first order of business after elections, will pass a resolution against the Centre's decision to strip the region of its statehood and special status.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has also said “it's going to be a struggle after elections for the restoration of statehood and rights that have been taken away from the people.”

"The first order of business of the elected assembly of J&K should be to make it known not just to the rest of India but to the world at large that the people of J&K don't agree with what happened to us on 5th August 2019, and then we start undoing what was done to us," said Omar Abdullah told NDTV.

Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir have been announced after 2018, when BJP broke ties with its coalition partner PDP. The last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014. The polls in J&K have been announced on September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes has been scheduled on October 4.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under the President's Rule since December 19, 2018.

"I believe that one of the main jobs of the elected chief minister will be to ensure that full statehood is restored to J&K at the earliest because only as a state we can start to undo the damage that has been done to J&K after 2019," he said, as per the report.

The 54-year-old NC leader said that his party will again approach the Supreme Court if the centre doesn't restore the statehood of J&K immediately.

"It's going to be a fight to restore the statehood. Nothing is going to come to us easily. Even these elections didn't come to us easily," he said, as per the report.

Omar Abdullah also hinted at reconsidering his decision to refrain from participating in polls until Jammu and Kashmir's statehood is restored, the report said.

"I have been inundated with messages, emails, phone calls. Ultimately, the party will decide and the party president will decide," said Omar Abdullah whose father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is the president of the National Conference.

He reportedly said that the elections would be an opportunity for people to choose an assembly that will "register its unhappiness with what was done on 5th August 2019".