Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday raised statehood demands at the flagging off of the maiden train to Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Holy Katra town.
“It has been my luck and fortune that whenever there have been big programs for railways, I have been part of it. The first time Anantnag rail station was inaugurated, when the Banihal rail tunnel was opened. Looking back at the last program of my first term in 2014 happened here too… You had also become the Prime Minister for the first time, just after elections, you came here and inaugurated the Katra railway station, and you won the elections a total of 3 times to remain PM,” J-K CM said during the program.
Hoping for “things to get back to normal” in the union territories, CM Abdullah added, “The same four people were present here in 2014 when the Katra Railway Station was inaugurated, Manoj Sinha, who was then MoS (Minister of State) for railways, got promoted as post of LG, and I got from CM of a state to CM of a UT. But things will get back to normal before we know it, and J&K will be given the status of a state by PM Narendra Modi.”
The erstwhile state was reorganised into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh post the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in August 2019.
Abdullah said many people in Jammu and Kashmir have dreamt of seeing a train chugging into Kashmir.
“The dream was also realised during the British rule, but they did not succeed. They planned to bring rail from Uri, along the banks of the Jhelum, to connect with the country. What the British could not achieve has happened at your (Modi’s) hands, and Kashmir has been connected to the rest of the country,” he added.
Abdullah also praised the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for declaring the train to Kashmir - a project of immense national and strategic importance.
“It will be a grave mistake if I do not thank former PM Vajpayee. This project was undoubtedly started in 1983-84, but it was completed only after Vajpayee declared it a project of national importance and made provisions in the budget,” he said.
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