BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Abdullah’s statement, accusing him of making “irresponsible and anti-national” comments in a bid to win the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Prasad said, “Afzal Guru was given death punishment by the law. The matter went to the Supreme Court, and even a review was done but he was found to be involved in anti-national and terrorist activities. To win the election, he (Omar Abdullah) is saying that hanging him (Afzal Guru) was a wrong decision, what does he want? I condemn this, it’s an irresponsible and anti-national statement. It shows the truth that he and his family remain soft about terrorists… To win the election, will you talk about breaking India? It’s good that his real face has just been exposed. “
He further accused Abdullah of attempting to weaken India for electoral gains, adding, “The people of Kashmir and BJP won’t let his conspiracy to weaken India be successful.”
BJP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta also criticised Abdullah, questioning his motives. “After all, what does Omar Abdullah want to solve? If anti-national elements who hatched a conspiracy against India are given the death penalty, why do they object to this? They want to create a situation by taking support from terrorists. They are taking support from terrorists; that is why he is speaking such language,” Gupta said.
Omar Abdullah, in response, clarified his stance, distancing his government from any involvement in Afzal Guru’s execution. He said that had the Jammu and Kashmir government been required to give approval for the execution, it would not have been granted.
“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,” Abdullah remarked.