The former Congress leader said that statehood should be restored immediately as the government has not specified the time frame for it.
Jammu And Kashmir’s Statehood: Former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said that statehood should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir immediately after the assembly elections are held in the Union Territory.
“The prime minister and the home minister have promised in the Parliament to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. We had insisted that it should be done before the assembly elections, but the government said they will do it after the assembly elections,” said Azad addressing a rally in the Aishmuqam area of Anantnag district, about 75 km from Srinagar.
The former Congress leader said that statehood should be restored immediately as the government has not specified the time frame for it. “After the elections can be a long time later. But it should be done immediately,” he added.
Speaking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kashmir later this week, Azad said that it was an overdue visit.
“The prime minister visits various parts of the country. His visit to Kashmir was overdue, he visited Jammu last week (month). I will request the PM to carry out the works which the local government cannot do. I would request that two thermal power projects, one each in Kashmir and Jammu regions, with a total generation capacity of 4,000 MW be set up to ensure there is no energy deficit in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Azad adding that electricity was the basic requirement for Modi’s favourite programme for startups.
“That is the only way to address unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad said.
“Jammu and Kashmir has been ruled by the BJP for the last 10 years, for four years in coalition and then directly. In the past two years, I have visited vast areas of Jammu and Kashmir and found that one problem is common and that is electricity,” he added.
The central government abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019, and the parliament also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which contained provisions that dissolved the state of Jammu and Kashmir and established two new union territories: the eponymous union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and that of Ladakh.
The centre had said that the statehood would be restored and elections to the assembly would be held.
The reorganisation act was assented to by the President of India and came into effect on 31 October 2019.
(With PTI inputs)
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