New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir, a newly-minted BJP leader, provoked a sharp retort from Omar Abdullah today as they plunged into the debate on a “separate PM for Jammu and Kashmir”. “Stick to stuff you know,” Omar Abdullah curtly told the former cricketer on Twitter.
Gautam Gambhir, who joined the BJP last month, had posted tweets mocking the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister for his comments on Monday warning that a separate ‘Wazir-e-Azam’ (Prime Minister) and “Sadr-e-Riyasat” (President) for his state would be back on the table if there were attempts to tinker with Article 35A. The article empowers the state to decide who are permanent residents and can have special land ownership in the state.
Gautam Gambhir tweeted this afternoon: “Omar Abdullah wants a separate PM for J&K and I want to walk on oceans! Omar Abdullah wants a separate PM for J&K and I want pigs to fly! More than a separate PM Omar Abdullah needs some sleep followed by a strong coffee! If he still doesn’t understand then a green Pakistani passport.”
Omar Abdullah’s comeback was swift and pungent: “Gautam, I never played much cricket because I knew I wasn’t very good at it. You don’t know very much about J&K, it’s history or the role of @jknc_ in shaping that history yet you insist on displaying that ignorance for all to see. Stick to stuff you know about, tweet about the IPL.”
The National Conference leader has been fending off criticism since his stunning comments at a rally in Kashmir’s Bandipora that his party would seek the restoration of the terms of accession, including a separate Sadr-e-riyasat and Prime Minister post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to target him, at a rally in Hyderabad. “He says we will take the clock back and replicate the situation before 1953 and there will be two Prime Ministers in India, Kashmir will have its separate PM. How can anyone dare to say such a thing?” He tweeted later, “Till Modi is there, no one can divide India!”
