congress-leaders-from-j-k-head-to-delhi-to-demand-statehood

Congress leaders from Jammu and Kashmir left for Delhi on Monday under their ‘Delhi Chalo’ campaign, to gherao' Parliament and push for a bill to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

 

They criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling his repeated promises to restore statehood, both inside and outside Parliament.

 

"The prime minister has committed to restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir — not once, but several times in the past. He promised people that he would restore it, both inside and outside Parliament. So, we are heading to Delhi to intensify the agitation for statehood,” said Congress national general secretary Ghulam Ahmed Mir, speaking to reporters in Jammu.

 

Mir and J&K Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra led more than 160 party leaders from Jammu in five double-decker buses from Jammu on Monday as part of this campaign.

 

“It’s been 10 months since the Lok Sabha elections, and still the statehood hasn’t been restored. The PM should fulfil his commitment to restoring the rights of the people of the state,” Mir added.

 

Speaking to the media, Karra said, “To get back our statehood, which is our constitutional right, we are heading towards the national capital under the Delhi Chalo programme. We will try to gherao Parliament there. We want to wake up this deaf and blind government. They remain silent on fulfilling the demand for granting statehood, which they promised both inside Parliament and outside it.”

 

He said that after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi wrote to the PM on the issue, the party began a series of protests — first ‘Srinagar Chalo’, then ‘Jammu Chalo’, and now ‘Delhi Chalo’.

 

The Congress began its movement with a protest in Srinagar on July 19, demanding the return of statehood.

 

On July 20, the party held another protest in central Jammu, led by Karra and Mir. They attempted to march to Raj Bhawan to hand over a memorandum to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, but were stopped by police barricades. Both leaders were among those detained during the protest.