Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has informed
Narendra Modi that he does not need a lecture or certificate on secularism from him, in what is now a full-scale war of words that began when his father Farooq Abdullah suggested that Mr Modi's supporters should "jump into the sea."
Mr Modi, who is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, tweeted this morning, "Instead of telling those voting for Modi to drown, Dr Abdullah should look at himself & his family in the mirror & see how they ruined J&K." He also said, "Dr Abdullah... if there is someone who has done most harm to secularism it is you and your family."
Omar Abdullah retorted, "For Modi, history is what suits him. He presents history after distorting it. Neither my family, nor the Valley requires your secularism certificate. The day I get a secularism certificate from you, I think, will be the day I should resign."
"You will come to all places, but you don't have the courage to come to Kashmir. You have been to all the places asking for votes, but you would not dare to come here because of the name you have earned for yourself out here," Mr Omar Abdullah said while take a jibe at the BJP leader.
On Sunday, his father and union minister Farooq Abdullah, who also heads their Nationalist Conference party, had said at a rally, "those voting for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi should
jump into the sea", adding that "Kashmir will not stay with India if it becomes communal." He later said his comments were in response to BJP leader Giriraj Singh, who had declared recently that critics of Mr Modi would be sent to Pakistan. (
Also Read: BJP's Giriraj Singh banned from campaigning for 'Modi critics to Pak' remark)
Mr Modi is expected to deliver the BJP's strongest-ever electoral performance, though it's not clear yet if the party will land a majority, allowing it to form the government without the need to add to the 25 allies that are already part of its coalition.
Critics of Mr Modi allege that he did not do enough to stop the riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. More than a thousand people were killed, most of them Muslims. A Supreme Court inquiry has said there is no evidence to prove that Mr Modi was complicit in the deadly violence, a point his party and he have stressed in his high-octane campaign for the election.