Be informed, Mr Omar
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has a wide following in the country on account of his fresh-faced apparent transparency as a politician. But in his own state he draws criticism for not keeping in touch with the grassroots, especially with supporters of his own party.
It is possibly this which led him into tricky alleyways when he delivered the Independence Day address in strike-bound Srinagar. But attempts at gaining easy popularity seldom succeed.
The chief minister said the rest of India made Kashmiris feel different, and this was why they felt alienated from the country. Mr Abdullah observed that he understood this when he saw the way politicians outside J&K, and the media as well, had got into a lather over the recent communal violence in Kishtwar, although they had been silent about communal clashes in other states.
This was regrettably uninformed of the chief minister. Communal clashes in all parts of India have been institutionally taken note of over the decades. If particular attention was paid to the tragic development in Kishtwar, it was because the episode coincided with Pakistani transgressions and firing on the LoC and made some wonder if agents provocateur were at work to destabilise the situation in Kashmir. This is a legitimate concern, and a chief minister ought not to be in need of a tutorial on such a matter. With elections next year, perhaps Mr Abdullah desired to outflank his rivals in giving vent to a common, but utterly bogus, grouse nursed in Kashmir.
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