Amid uproar over political developments in Arunachal Pradesh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the practice of "misusing Raj Bhavans" to overthrow elected governments has not ended in the country.
"I thought the practice of misusing Raj Bhavans to over throw legitimately elected governments was a thing of the past, sadly not!" Omar wrote on twitter.
He was referring to bizarre turn of events in Arunachal Pradesh, where opposition BJP and rebel Congress MLAs yesterday got together in a local hotel to "vote out" Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and to "elect" a rebel Congress MLA in his place.
Omar, who is working president of the National Conference, said Jammu and Kashmir paid a very high price for the "machinations" of the Governor in 1984 and expressed hope that Arunachal Pradesh does not face similar fall out of the present developments.
"J&K has paid a very high price for the machinations of the Governor in 1984. Let's hope developments in Arunachal don't have similar fallout," he added.
National Conference President and the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was dismissed from office by then Governor Jagmohan on July 2, 1984 following a defection in his own party led by his brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah.
Shah went on the become the Chief Minister with the help of National Conference rebels and Congress.
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In a statement, Omar said it is the duty of the state government to fully and competently defend the status of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and prevent any central laws from "undermining" the autonomous character of the state, its Constitution and the essence of Article 370.
"Unfortunately, the PDP-BJP government, it seems, has absolved itself of this duty in what could be an understanding it has with the central government in this context.
"It is important to put the Instrument of Accession, the state's Constitution and the state's Special Autonomous Status in the right perspective while dealing with such cases and while representing the State in the SC - and that clearly has not happened here," the NC leader said.
He said the Special Leave Petition challenging the verdict of the division bench of the J-K High Court on the issue was filed with the required notice being issued to the state government in February and the appeal was argued in the SC by no less than the Attorney General for India, the top law officer of the Union Government.
"In light of this, two pertinent questions need to be answered by the PDP and its alliance government in the state.
"One, since we were told PDP has entered into an alliance with the BJP with a concrete agreement from the Union Government and the BJP that the state's special status would be protected, why is the Union Government using the judicial route to subvert certain attributes of the state's constitutional character?
"And second, why did the state government fail to come up with an appropriate and serious response considering the sensitivity of this issue and the importance of safeguarding the State's political rights?," Omar said.
Accusing PDP of contradictions over the issue, Omar said, "In what could be yet another volte-face by the PDP, it seems they have decided to facilitate the long-cherished desire of their alliance partner to circumvent and subvert the Constitution of the State and attributes of Article 370".
The former chief minister said his party would consult eminent constitutional lawyers, jurists and civil society groups "in an effort to prevent the subversion of the state's Constitution and autonomous character".
