Omar says BJP prefers courtrooms to politics, announces legal offensive

Escalating the political showdown with the BJP, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday mocked the party’s legal notice as a “love letter”, alleging that it prefers courtrooms to political debate and warning of counter legal action against BJP leaders for what he described as repeated defamatory allegations.

Reacting to the development, Omar, while talking to reporters in Srinagar, accused the BJP of turning political disagreements into legal battles, saying it prefers courtrooms over public debate. He also pointed out that he could have made the allegations inside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, where lawmakers enjoy certain legal protections, but deliberately chose to speak outside the House.

Omar’s remarks came after the BJP’s legal notice to him, threatening a Rs 100-crore defamation suit if he fails to prove the allegations of MLA poaching or issue a public apology.

“I have received an electronic copy. I consider this a great honour as I am the only politician in Jammu and Kashmir to have been bestowed with a love letter like this by the BJP. I consider it a mark of respect that I am obviously a political force in Jammu and Kashmir that they cannot ignore,” Omar said.

Omar further stated that he was expecting a political response from the BJP since he had made a political statement. “It is symbolic of the way the BJP fights. They take political fights and hide behind the courts,” he said.

He further said, “I could have made the same statement and hid behind the assembly. I could have taken advantage of the privileges afforded to me by making the statements in the Assembly which cannot be challenged outside the assembly, but I did not.”

Not naming anyone, he added, “Particularly, one BJP leader has time and again levelled unfounded and slanderous allegations against us, but we have been fighting him politically. Going on now, we will begin the process of sending legal notices to that particular BJP leader and a few others and let’s see where this process ends”.