'What are we without our land,' says Omar Abdullah

The J&K Chief Minister also paid his tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar for his contributions to the drafting of a Constitution that ensured equality between all.

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday asserted the importance of a land and its people in forging their identity and exhorted them to never let it go.

The land of Jammu and Kashmir, a region restive for decades, must be protected by its people at all costs, he said.

"When we talk about these matters — about the Constitution, special status, and the prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir — we are also talking about our identity. And our identity is tied to our land," Abdullah said while addressing a function in the Bari Brahmana area of Samba district.

"We want this land to remain ours. The land that Sheikh Abdullah, with a single signature, transferred to you without any compensation … Without it, what do we truly possess?" he said.

"It must not be taken away from us, and this should remain our collective effort," he added.

Abdullah also paid his tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar for his contributions to the drafting of a Constitution that ensured equality between all.

"No matter how much is said about Ambedkar, it will always fall short. The foundation of any nation lies in its Constitution, and Ambedkar gave this nation its Constitution. He laid the foundation of this country, and wherever we stand today, it is because of him," he said.

Referring to the West, he said some of these countries exercised discrimination on the basis of one's skin colour, while India after Independence wrote away all such differences, even seeing men and women as equal.

"This is the kind of day we celebrate — a day where Ambedkar ensured from the very beginning that no matter your colour, caste, or background, there would be no difference between your vote and anyone else's. A vote is equal, free from discrimination, transcending caste or creed," he said.

All the same, Abdullah expressed concerns at the succeeding generations' failure in upholding the values of the Constitution. He said this failure has given rise to conflicts, predominantly to the detriment to the marginalised.

"Even today, if we look at the largest legislative houses in India, how many men are there, and how many women? The same can be observed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly — compare the number of men and women, and the difference is like that between the earth and the sky," he said.