Cong pushes for Jammu and Kashmir statehood restoration

The Congress on Wednesday said it is intensifying its movement for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference here, senior Congress leaders cited repeated promises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a directive from the Supreme Court. They expressed concerns over the common man’s suffering in the UT, being “tossed between the Chief Minister’s secretariat and the Raj Bhawan”.

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Congress leaders, including G A Mir, Digvijaya Singh, Naseer Hussain, and Ravinder Sharma, while emphasizing the need to restore statehood to J&K, highlighted the “unprecedented situation where powers of elected representatives are with unelected people like the Lieutenant Governor”.

Digvijaya Singh noted that despite promises by Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and directives from the Supreme Court, statehood has not been restored. In June 2021, PM Modi suggested delimitation, elections, and then statehood restoration for J&K.

G A Mir, who is the CLP leader, pointed out, while the delimitation exercise has been completed with elections also held and an elected government in place for the last eleven months, the government of India is yet to fulfill its promise of restoring statehood.

He said the Congress has since August 5, 2019 maintained that the statehood to J&K must be restored.