Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and BJP’s Gautam Gambhir were engaged in a Twitter spat on Tuesday after the former’s comments on a separate Prime Minister for the valley kicked up a huge storm.
Reacting to Omar Abdullah’s comments, made during his election campaign on Monday, Gambhir had tweeted, “@OmarAbdullah wants a separate PM for J&K & I want to walk on oceans! @OmarAbdullah wants a separate PM for J&K & I want pigs to fly! More than a separate PM @OmarAbdullah needs some sleep followed by a strong coffee! If he still doesn’t understand then a green Pakistani passport”
@OmarAbdullah wants a separate PM for J&K & I want to walk on oceans! @OmarAbdullah wants a separate PM for J&K & I want pigs to fly! More than a separate PM @OmarAbdullah needs some sleep followed by a strong coffee! If he still doesn’t understand then a green Pakistani passport
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) April 2, 2019
Abdullah shot back asking the former India cricket player to stick to cricket instead of embarrassing himself over his lack of expertise on the complex issues of Kashmir. He wrote, “Gautam,I never played much cricket because I knew I wasn’t very good at it. You don’t know very much about J&K,it’s history or the role of @jknc_ in shaping that history yet you insist on displaying that ignorance for all to see. Stick to stuff you know about, tweet about the IPL.”
Gautam,I never played much cricket because I knew I wasn’t very good at it. You don’t know very much about J&K,it’s history or the role of @jknc_ in shaping that history yet you insist on displaying that ignorance for all to see. Stick to stuff you know about, tweet about the IPL https://t.co/2ZSHJclWkt
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) April 2, 2019
Gambhir replied, “Never mind your lack of cricketing prowess but Kashmiris and our country would have been well served if you knew a thing or two about selfless governance. By the way history is always consistent but perspectives are subjective. Better clean ur reading glasses.”
The two were engaged in another Twitter spat in October last year, when Gambhir asked Abdullah to hang his head in embarrassment after militant Mannan Wani was killed by the Indian security forces. An angry Abdullah had replied, “This man wouldn’t be able to find Manan’s home district on a map much less his village & yet he presumes to know what drives young men in Kashmir to pick up the gun. Mr Gambhir clearly knows less about Kashmir than I do about cricket & I know almost nothing.”
Gambhir recently joined the BJP, which is likely to field him as its candidate from one of Delhi’s seven parliamentary seats.
Addressing an election rally in south Kashmir’s Bandipore on Monday, Abdullah had said that those threatening to revoke Article 35A must not forget that Jammu and Kashmir had negotiated the terms and conditions of its accession with Union of India ensuring its own identity and constitution.’ He said in Urdu, “That time, we gave away our Sadar-e-Riyasat aur Wazir-e-Azam and Insha Allah, our party will bring it back.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken a dig at him without naming Abdullah in one of his election rallies.