Statements made to pander to local audience have damaged country’s interests: Omar

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Monday said BJP spokespersons need to learn that the era of “local consumption” was a thing of the past and the statements made to pander to a local audience have damaged Indian interests in a part of the world that is crucial to the country.
Taking to Twitter, Omar said when he first started out in politics, he would occasionally hear colleagues make speeches in which they would say things that would be unpalatable to a wider audience in Jammu and Kashmir.
“When asked how they get away with this they would reply ‘it’s LC’. LC = for local consumption. It was a time before social media & before everyone in the audience had access to a video camera. Media coverage of the function would depend upon what the party media office chose to include in the press release sent out that evening,” he said in a series of Tweets.
Omar said the local consumption parts of the speech would never find any mention in any press release issued by the party and “the wider population of J-K was none the wiser about some of the points made in the speeches”.
However, he said, over the last few years, he and his colleagues have learnt that there is no such thing as “local consumption” any longer.
“What we say in one corner of some mountain top in J-K can make news in a distant part of South India in a matter of minutes,” he added.
Omar said it would seem that spokespersons of the ruling BJP need to learn that the “era of the local consumption is well & truly a thing of the past”.
“Statements made to pander to a local audience have damaged Indian interests in a part of the world that is crucial to the country,” he said.
“Indian diplomats will use up valuable diplomatic capital to assuage the anger that has, rightfully, been felt in countries that matter deeply to our country. And all because the BJP thought it can explain away hurtful statements as LC,” he said.