Srinagar, Aug 10: Senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said he was hopeful that demands made by his party during the all-party meet chaired by PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi in June will be fulfilled soon.
Azad was addressing Congress workers at the party headquarters here during the visit of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“In the all-party meeting, the PM assured us and we are hopeful that five demands put forth by the Congress will be fulfilled. We did not get into many demands and kept them simple and basic. We have demanded that first restore statehood and then hold elections in J&K. If this does not happen, many political parties might end up saying no to polls” said Azad.
The veteran Congress leader said that considering the geographical aspect of J&K which is based on the borders, “only a full-fledged state government” can address issues related to it, Azad added.
“We don’t either want a Delhi or Puducherry type of government here. This is a border state and any LG won’t be able to handle the law and order efficiently” Azad said.
He said during the all-party meeting, Congress had also raised the issue that the jobs and land rights of people of J&K must be secured. “Kashmir is geographically situated in a way which makes it to rely on fruit and tourism. Even 65 per cent industry in Jammu has shut down in the last two to three years. Hope the Centre restores statehood and I would urge Rahul ji that in the next three days of Parliament the bill is passed to restore the statehood of J&K” said Azad.
Azad said at the time Congress was in power at the Centre and was also part of an alliance government in J&K, it had tried to implement many central schemes in J&K. However, Azad took a dig at BJP saying it dissolved the state Assembly followed by abrogation of Article 370, which he termed as “a bizarre thing to do”.
“We haven’t had an example of such a bizarre thing since 1948. The central government played the biggest joke on J&K by splitting it and removing statehood. This was for the first time in the history of Parliament” said Azad.
He said 16,500 people were jailed after the decisions of August 5, 2019 but added that it was “a good thing” that these people have been freed now. “Out of the total number of detained persons, only 100 odd still continue to be jailed for other cases” Azad said.
Azad said the abrogation of Article 370 and subsequent events had caused an “emotional set-back” to people in Jammu and Kashmir. “We reached Srinagar Airport a few days after August 5, 2019 but were turned back. I was turned back several times. I had to approach SC and was allowed to visit Kashmir but with certain riders,” Azad said.