Art 370 sowed seeds of separatism: Shah

Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that the system of dual power centres in Jammu & Kashmir was to nobody's advantage - making a push again for the restoration of statehood for a region that has been a Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Article 370 sowed the "seeds of separatism" in the Kashmir Valley and spread a "myth that Kashmir's association and India" is temporary, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.

- Ashiq Hussain

SRINAGAR: Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that the system of dual power centres in Jammu & Kashmir was to nobody's advantage - making a push again for the restoration of statehood for a region that has been a Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

This was Abdullah's first media conference in Srinagar after taking oath as CM on October 16 following a thumping win in the first assembly polls held since J&K ceased to be a state. While referring to the role of lieutenant governor (LG) and his own role as CM, Abdullah said that past two months were a learning experience to ascertain the elected government's authority, or lack of it.

"Dual centres of power are not to anyone's advantage. If a dual government or any organisation with dual systems of power was an effective means of governance or management, you would see it everywhere. An organisation has a chain of command but ultimately the authority is with one person. Whether it is in government, business, sports or security forces, ultimately systems work better when there is a single point of command," Abdullah said.

"We hope that J&K being a UT is a temporary phase. People participated wholeheartedly in October elections and country's leadership hailed that and now we are hopeful that the biggest promise of statehood by central leadership is fulfilled... Around a year back, the Supreme Court had directed Centre to restore the statehood as soon as possible. I believe one year is enough time since then."

To be sure, the CM added that while there may be "some differences of opinion", there was no confrontation with Raj Bhavan.