Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have assured the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir that he was committed to restoring statehood to the region.
The assurance was given at his meeting with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, now bifurcated into two union territories, which lasted for more than three hours. Before Modi, the union home minister Amit Shah had also told the J&K leaders that the centre was committed to granting statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said. The issue of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir was discussed in detail as all political parties harped in the demand.
The Thursday’s meeting was the first move made by the centre to resolve the disputes in J&K since the Modi government abrogated the article 370 removing its special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories on August 5, 2019.
The fact that the meeting lasted for more than three hours itself was a testimony that the deliberations were fruitful.
BJP’s Ram Madhav tweeted soon after the much-awaited meet got over. “The fact that J&K meeting has gone on for more than 3 hrs is in itself an indication of its success,” the BJP leader said.
His sentiments were also supported by some local leaders. “The talks were held in a good atmosphere today. The Prime Minister heard our issues of all leaders. PM said the election process will begin when the delimitation process finishes,” J&K Apni Party’s Altaf Bukhari said.
Reports said 14 mainstream Jammu and Kashmir leaders from eight political parties, including four former Chief Ministers attended the meeting aimed at setting on course the political process in the region, which has been under President’s Rule since 2018 when the BJP withdrew support from then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s government. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were also present.
Modi, say sources, urged the parties to get on board with delimitation or redrawing of assembly constituencies to enable elections for the first time since Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status under Article 370 in 2019 and was bifurcated into two Union Territories.
Former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah of the National Conference met PM Modi last on August 1, 2019. They were stunned when three days later on August 4, they were detained and hours later, the abrogation of Article 370 was announced in parliament.
The Gupkar Alliance, a group of seven parties led by Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah, had said they would press for restoration of full statehood and special status at the meeting. The Congress had also echoed the demand.
“The main focus of the meeting was to strengthen the democratic process. PM said that we are fully committed to the democratic process in J&K. He stressed that the holding assembly elections just like the successful conduct of District Development Council elections is a priority,” government sources said.
“PM said that he wants to remove Dilli ki Duri as well as Dil Ki Duri,” said the sources.
The Prime Minister, said sources, “patiently heard suggestions and inputs from all participants” and expressed happiness that all participants shared their frank and honest views. “It was an open discussion which revolved around building a better future for Kashmir,” they said. This was the Centre’s first major outreach since August 2019 towards political leaders who have been severely critical of the Article 370 decision. Many of the leaders attending the meeting had been detained as part of the security measures to prevent any protests over the sweeping changes.
There was talk of assembly elections alongside the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 but the Election Commission flagged concerns about security expressed by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. In December, local body elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir, in which Gupkar Alliance won more than 100 seats and the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 74 seats.
