'Should Afzal Guru have been garlanded publicly?': Rajnath Singh asks Omar Abdullah

Union Defence Minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh being welcomed on his arrival for a public rally for J&K Assembly elections, in Ramban

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday while addressing an election rally in the Ramban assembly constituency in support of BJP candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur, attacked National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for his recent remarks on Afzal Guru's hanging.

Rajnath Singh said, "I heard that National Conference leader Omar Abdullah sahab said that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged. I want to ask him that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged, should he have been garlanded publicly?."

#WATCH | Ramban, J&K: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says, "I heard that National Conference leader Omar Abdullah sahab said that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged. I want to ask him that Afzal Guru should not have been hanged, should he have been garlanded publicly? ...Form pic.twitter.com/19wlSKT99C

ANI (@ANI) September 8, 2024

Omar Abdullah had earlier told ANI in an interview that he did not believeany purpose was served by "executing" Afzal Guru."The unfortunate thing was that the J-K government had nothing to do with Afzal Guru's execution. Otherwise, you would have had to do it with the permission of the state government, which I can tell you in no uncertain terms would not have been forthcoming. We wouldn't have done it. I don't believe that any purpose was served by executing him," Omar Abdullah said.

Rajnath Singh also came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370. He said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there. He welcomed the "sea change" in the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, and said youths now carry laptops and computers instead of pistols and revolvers. "Support the BJP to form the next government in J-K so that we can facilitate massive development in the region. There will be so much development that the people in PoK on seeing this should say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will go to India," the defence minister said. "I want to tell PoK residents that Pakistan is considering you foreigner but the people in India do no consider you as such. We consider you as our own and so come and join us," he said.

Jammu and Kashmir will go for assembly polls in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. Votes will be counted on October 8. These are the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.