India ‘Gathbandhan’ currently on ‘life support’, danger of going to ‘ICU’ soon; Why did Omar Abdullah say this?

New Delhi. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said on Saturday that the opposition INDIA block is currently on “life support”. Not only this, he even said that there is a possibility of the alliance going to the ICU. Abdullah said, “There is a danger of the India ‘alliance’ going into the ‘ICU’ due to internal fighting and inability to counter the BJP’s round-the-clock election machine.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Delhi, Abdullah detailed the opposition group’s “organisational and strategic failures”, and compared their approach with the BJP’s “unparalleled” functioning.

Talking about the current health of the India faction, especially after the recent Bihar elections, Abdullah said, “We are kind of on life support, but sometimes, someone takes out their paddle and gives us a little shock, and we get back up. But then, unfortunately, results like Bihar come, and we fall down again, and then someone has to take us to the ICU.”

National Conference leaders have always stayed away from the widespread political allegation of rigging in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He said, “I have never been a supporter of those who say that machines are rigged.” Abdullah, however, drew a distinction between election rigging and election manipulation, which he said is a legitimate concern. “Elections can be manipulated. And the easiest way to manipulate elections is to do so through the voter list or through the structure of constituencies,” he said.

Pointing to the recent delimitation process in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah described it as ‘essentially manipulation’. He argued that in the process, new constituencies were created to benefit “one party and one of its allies” by altering voter lists and excluding specific sections of voters, which amounted to electoral manipulation.