In a pointed political pushback, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday declared that the “acceptable time” for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir had arrived, whilst his Nationwide Convention (NC) get together got here underneath hearth for allegedly stalling legislative dialogue on the contentious Waqf Act.
A day earlier, the BJP had accused Abdullah of appropriating its promise of restoring statehood and suggested him to focus as a substitute on the unfulfilled guarantees made by his get together.
Hitting again at present, Abdullah asserted that his current assembly with Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah had left him optimistic. “We expect the suitable time has come, six months have handed for the reason that Meeting elections. Shah got here right here, I had a separate assembly with him, a superb one … I’m nonetheless hopeful that JK will quickly get its statehood again,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by information company PTI.
The comment follows a charged remark from senior BJP chief and Chief of the Opposition within the Meeting, Sunil Sharma, who dismissed the NC’s renewed statehood pitch as disingenuous. “Statehood is our narrative, it’s the BJP’s promise. Abdullah ought to somewhat deal with fulfilling the guarantees he made to the folks,” Sharma mentioned on Monday.
Abdullah’s renewed assertion additionally comes within the backdrop of criticism surrounding the Waqf Act. Opposition leaders, together with members from the NC, sought a dialogue on the laws by an adjournment movement that was denied by Speaker Abdul Rahim Somewhat on grounds that the problem was subjudice. The transfer sparked uproar, with opposition events accusing the Speaker—who’s from the NC—of defending the federal government by stalling debate.
Clarifying the get together’s place, Abdullah responded to the controversy by stressing procedural correctness.
“The Speaker made all the pieces clear on the final day. Maybe, the error by the members was that they introduced an adjournment movement. An adjournment movement is simply introduced to debate the works of the JK authorities as a result of the federal government has to reply. Inform me, had that adjournment movement been accepted, how would we’ve got responded because the Waqf Invoice was not introduced by us. It was handed by the Centre within the Parliament,” he mentioned.
Whereas Abdullah continues to push for the return of statehood, he has remained cautious on the bigger subject of Jammu and Kashmir’s particular standing—revoked in August 2019 with the abrogation of Article 370. He has repeatedly acknowledged that the combat for particular standing is much from over, however tempered expectations of any quick reversal.
“We now have mentioned we are going to proceed to maintain the problem alive, which we’ve got performed… However at no level did we ever mislead the folks by telling them that they’re going to elect a authorities that’s going to right away get the particular standing restored,” Abdullah mentioned throughout a February Concept Change session with Indian Specific. “To count on the individuals who took it away from us to present it again to us, simply because we’re asking for it, is pointless.”
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