Facing backlash over a recent photo with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in Srinagar’s Tulip Garden, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday accused his political rival Peoples Democratic Party of “destroying Jammu and Kashmir while sitting on the lap of the BJP”.
Omar was responding to questions being raised over a stroll and eventual photo with Rijiju taken Monday during the latter’s visit to the union territory. The photo came at a time when there was fierce roiling in Jammu and Kashmir — India’s only Muslim majority state – over the Waqf amendment law that was passed in Parliament last week.
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In response to criticism from rivals PDP, Omar told the media that the people who, while sitting in the lap of BJP, talked of ” doodh aur toffee (milk and candies)” were speaking against him. “They are the people who distributed cricket bats to mislead youth and dragged them’ to the events of the then Home Minister,” he said, adding that “whatever situation we are in is because of them”.
After bulldozing the Waqf Amendment Bill through Parliament, Minister Kiran Rijiju strategically chose to visit Kashmir. He was given red carpet welcome by the Chief Minister of India’s only Muslim majority state – a move that seemed designed & deliberate to signal to the 24… pic.twitter.com/GxH908DpeQ
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 9, 2025
The CM “doodh aur toffee” jibe refers to a statement made by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti during the 2016 unrest in the state that killed over 90 people while she was chief minister of the state. In the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was the heading the PDP-BJP coalition government in the erstwhile state, had asked whether those killed in firing by security forces had gone to their camp for “doodh aur toffee (milk and candy)”.
She apologised for the remark in the run up to the 2019 general election, wondering if she “as a mother” didn’t have the right to warn people of the dangers of going to a security forces’ camp to protest.
A beautiful morning walk became a political discussion, echoed even in J&K Assembly too! I briefly came across CM, Omar Abdullah sahab and Farooq Abdullah sahab at the Tulip Garden on early morning visit to avoid inconvenience for the visitors & tourists at daytime.
We… pic.twitter.com/ITc1qIsHJl— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) April 9, 2025
Omar’s remarks in the House came two days after PDP legislator Waheed-ur-Rehman Para had Monday accused the National Conference government of facilitating the BJP-led central government’s policies on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir. He also described the protests by Omar’s National Conference against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, and the eventual scuffle with the BJP as a “fixed match”.
As criticism of Omar’s stroll with Rijiju mounted, Omar wondered what he should have done.
“It’s correct that two days ago, I had taken my father to the Tulip Garden,” he told the media. “It has been a coincidence that a union minister was already present there at that time and we greeted each other. He wanted to have a picture with me. Should I have been rude and refused?”
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