abdullah-amarnath-yatra-impossible-without-muslim-s-support

Omar Abdullah, vice president of National Conference (NC), on Tuesday, welcomed the Supreme Court's interim stay on the Kanwar Yatra order to mention the owner's name on eateries in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and said even the “Amarnath Yatra cannot be held without the support of Muslims.” 

 

"If the Kanwar Yatra order was issued to keep Muslims away from that Yatra, then for God's sake tell me, when the Amarnath Yatra takes place here, it is not possible without the Muslims," Abdullah said. 

 

Abdullah added, "The Amarnath yatris undertake the yatra on the shoulders of Muslims. The people who take Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims on horses or 'pithus' (porters), which religion do they belong to? The BJP does not see religion there." 

 

On Monday, the apex court held a stay on the directives issued by BJP-ruled UP and Uttarakhand asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of their owners, staff, and other details.

The opposition claimed the move was intended to promote religious discrimination.  

                         

Responding to a question on the Union government's decision to revoke the ban on government employees participating in RSS functions, Abdullah stated, "if they have to do this", then bans on employees participating in functions of political parties should also be removed as "RSS is a political organisation". 

 

"... such an order should be issued for political parties as well. Let the government employees come and join political parties," he said.

 

Abdullah, on the budget session that was held today, said, "We will see if there is anything for Jammu and Kashmir. We have two or three important issues." 

 

He maintained,  “Unemployment is the biggest issue in J-K. Perhaps, J-K has the highest unemployment rate in the country. We want to see if there is anything related to that,” he added.  

 

“We have water and electricity supply problems. We want these issues to be touched on in the budget. If they are not, then our two MPs will raise these issues,” he mentioned.