‘NC-Congress will ensure statehood for J&K’: Farooq Abdullah responds to Amit Shah
At his Jammu rally on Saturday, Union home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah asked NC-Congress to stop ‘misleading’ people on the issue of statehood.
Stating confidently that the alliance of National Conference (NC) and Congress will be victorious in the upcoming assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, NC supremo Farooq Abdullah on Sunday asserted the parties will get statehood restored in Jammu and Kashmir.
“National Conference and Congress will ensure that we get our statehood back,” the veteran politician told reporters.
The former J&K chief minister was responding to a statement by Union home minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah from the previous day. Addressing a BJP rally in Jammu city, Shah accused NC and Congress of ‘misleading’ people on statehood, which, he pointed out, can be restored only by the Centre.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has been the country's ruling coalition since May 2014.
In October 2019, Jammu and Kashmir's statehood was withdrawn, and two new Union territories came out of it: J&K, and Ladakh.
Abdullah, meanwhile, also claimed that despite abrogation of Article 370, there was no end to terrorism in the Valley.
“They say if the NC and Congress come to power, terrorism will start again. I ask them, when they abolished Article 370, did terrorism end?” he asked.
Article 370 of the Constitution of India was revoked by the BJP-led government in August 2019, less than two months after it won its second consecutive term. Article 370 gave ‘special status’ to Jammu and Kashmir.
In its first assembly election since December 2014, Jammu and Kashmir will poll on September 18, 25, and October 1. The counting of votes will be conducted on October 8, on the same day as Haryana, where polling is on October 5.