Mehbooba Accuses Omar of Betraying the Poor by Blocking Land Rights Bill

Srinagar, Oct 29 :  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, accusing him of betraying the poor and marginalised sections of society by rejecting the Land Rights Bill introduced by her party legislator, Waheed Para, in the Assembly.

Addressing reporters in Srinagar, the former chief minister said the bill sought to provide ownership rights to poor families who had constructed small homes on grazing or government land decades ago. “This legislation was never about legalising recent encroachments but about giving dignity and security to poor people who have lived on small plots for the last 20 to 30 years,” she clarified.

The bill, tabled by the PDP, proposed recognising proprietary rights for long-standing residential structures on state or community land. However, it was voted down on Tuesday after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah argued that its passage would “open floodgates for land grabbers.”

“Omar has not betrayed the PDP; he has betrayed the poor who have nowhere else to go. By opposing this bill, he has effectively chosen to snatch the shelter from the heads of thousands of impoverished families,” Mehbooba said.

She criticised the government’s selective narrative around the bill, saying that while the BJP labelled it as ‘land jihad’, the NC dismissed it as an attempt to regularise encroachment. “Both are wrong,” she asserted. “This was about giving justice to those poor families who, for decades, have been struggling to retain their modest homes while facing bulldozers and eviction drives since 2019.”

Referring to the PDP’s support to the National Conference in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, Mehbooba Mufti said her party extended cooperation with the expectation that the NC would reciprocate by supporting the Land Rights Bill. “We gave them our three votes hoping they would stand by the poor. But what can one do when they choose political convenience over compassion?” she remarked.

The PDP president also said that this bill was in line with the spirit of social justice and inclusive governance. “We only wanted to protect those who have spent their lives building a shelter on four or five marlas of land. It was not for land grabbers or influential people but for daily-wage workers, widows, and low-income families,” she said.

In addition to land rights, Mehbooba Mufti raised the issue of regularising daily wagers and contractual workers across essential departments like Power, PHE, Irrigation, Health, and Education. “These workers have been the backbone of the administration for over two decades. They keep essential services running but continue to live without job security or fair compensation. Our government had promised to regularise them, and we even introduced a bill in that regard,” she said.

She criticised the current dispensation for using the absence of statehood as an excuse for inaction. “Omar Abdullah keeps repeating that without statehood, his hands are tied. But where was statehood needed to show compassion or pass a bill that safeguards the poor? The NC government could have easily taken a progressive step, but it chose not to,” Mehbooba asserted.

Calling the rejection of the Land Rights Bill a moral and political failure, she said it reflected a government disconnected from the realities of ordinary people. “This was an opportunity to restore public faith and show that governance is about empathy, not rhetoric. Unfortunately, the NC government failed that test,” the PDP president said.

She concluded by urging the government to reconsider its approach towards issues directly affecting the poor. “People are not asking for privileges, they are asking for fairness and a secure home. The government must stop playing politics over the suffering of the poor and take real measures to provide them stability and hope,” she said.