‘Statehood is our right, not a favor’: Farooq, as parties prepare salvo on govt

Srinagar (TIP)- As the monsoon session of Parliament starts on July 21, the National Conference and Congress have intensified their push for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. While NC president Farooq Abdullah asserted that statehood is the rightful entitlement of the people, the Congress is gearing up for protests in Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi to pressure the Centre into fulfilling the demand.
“I want to congratulate Congress president Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for raising the issue of statehood with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Abdullah told reporters on Friday, July 18.
He was referring to a letter written by Kharge and Rahul to the PM seeking restoration of statehood to J&K during the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. In response to a question, Abdullah said why statehood to J&K cannot be restored. “It is our right. It is not any favour”.
The NC president disclosed that on July 19 evening, a meeting of (India bloc) leaders will be held and the statehood issue will be discussed.
Another senior NC leader and minister Javed Rana said they want statehood to be restored to J&K.
The Supreme Court has directed GoI, the country’s leadership including PM and HM had promised before elections that there would be delimitation, elections and later statehood would be restored. The delimitation and Assembly election have taken place and now they should restore the statehood.
In response to a question, Rana said, “We want full-fledged statehood. When the state is restored, all these issues (including law and order) will be with us,”.
With an eye on the monsoon session, Congress too has upped the ante for restoration of statehood. “We will be holding protests Kashmir, Jammu and Delhi,” senior J&K Congress leader G A Mir said.