“We were unable to understand what was going on,” Omar said. “We knocked on many doors, but didn’t get the right answer.”
Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday recalled how his party’s Chief Whip Mubarik Gul had foretold the events of August 5, 2019 — when Articles 370 and 35-A, which granted special status to J&K, were abrogated.
Referring to his experience in the House, the chief minister reminded Speaker A R Rather and BJP MLA Surjit Singh Slathia of the political buzz in July 2019, when Slathia was a senior National Conference leader.
“We were unable to understand what was going on,” he said. “We knocked on many doors, but didn’t get the right answer.”
Recalling a meeting in early August 2019 at the National Conference headquarters, Nawai Subah, Omar said the party had gathered to discuss whether the Centre would move on Articles 370 and 35A, when Mubarik Gul predicted what would happen.
“He stood up, banged the table and declared ‘I’m telling you that Articles 370 and 35A will go and the state will be bifurcated into two union territories’,” Omar said.
He added: “I laughed asking Mubarik Gul what he was talking about. I said if they (central government) were to do it, they would do it around election time to sell it and increase their seat tally in Parliament. What will they gain by doing that now, with 4.5 years left for the next Lok Sabha elections?”
Gul told us to wait and watch, he said.
“We concluded our meeting and left for home, but on August 5, when we were put under house arrest and I switched on the TV to find out what was going on, the only person immediately coming to my mind was him,” he said, pointing towards Gul, seated in the front row. “At that time, I told myself I had committed a mistake.”
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Omar said he owed Gul an apology. “Inko kanhan se pata chala abhi tak mujey us baat ka jawab nahi mila hai (How he came to know about this I still don’t know),” he told legislators amid laughter.
Noting Gul’s contribution to J&K’s politics, Omar said it is indelible, regardless of whether he remains chief whip or an MLA.
