Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that an impression was developing in the Union Territory that its statehood will not be restored as the BJP could not win assembly elections last year.
He said BJP was the only party that opposed statehood restoration.“Sometimes it looks like people of Jammu and Kashmir will not get statehood because the BJP lost the elections. This is an injustice because nowhere was it said that statehood will be restored only if the BJP wins,” Abdullah told media outside his private office in Srinagar.“If there is opposition to the restoration of statehood, it is coming only from the BJP,” he said.
Abdullah said the biggest challenge before his 11-month-old government is that Jammu and Kashmir is not a state. He said that the promise of restoring statehood was not only made to the people of J&K but also assured before the Supreme Court. Abdullah stated that the process was meant to involve three parties — delimitation, elections, and then restoration of statehood. While delimitation and elections have been completed, he alleged that because the BJP failed to secure victory in the polls, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are being punished.
He added that it now appears statehood is being withheld solely due to the BJP’s inability to form a government.“The way the people were promised and the Supreme Court was informed, we expected it to be a three-step process: first delimitation, then elections, followed by restoration of statehood,” the chief minister said.
“The delimitation happened, elections were conducted and people enthusiastically participated in the polls. It was bad luck for the BJP that they did not win the polls, but people cannot be punished for that,” he said. On tourism in Kashmir, Abdullah said the stakeholders are not happy , even as the government is taking several measures and is keen towards revival of the Industry again.
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