Srinagar: “In Kashmir, we (politicians) are not in the habit of asking questions to people, and people are not in the habit of answering as well,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah quipped at an event on Saturday.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the widening of Boulevard Road from Nehru Park to Kral Sangri here, Abdullah said that politicians in Kashmir has stopped asking questions to people at public meetings as they were not sure of the responses.
“You must have noticed a huge difference in the speeches made by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and me. He has done politics in Jammu, where you get a simple reply for a simple question. Here in Kashmir, we don’t ask questions to people, we have lost that habit in the last 35 years,” Abdullah said in a lighter vein.
“If you are giving a speech about roads and you ask people what they want, in Jammu you will hear (the audience say) ‘roads’. If you ask it in the Valley, you’re not sure what response you will get. Hum kya chahte (what do we want)? ‘Tai tai phis!’ (no response),” Abdullah said referring to separatist slogans in the Valley before 2019, drawing laughter from the audience.
“So, we are not in the habit of asking questions, and people are not in the habit of answering as well,” Abdullah said.
He, however, said that politicians and people are now developing the habit of asking questions in Kashmir, but it will take some time to bear fruit.
