Full statehood for J&Okay high agenda in assembly with PM, says Ghulam Nabi Azad

AHEAD OF Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assembly with key political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir this week, senior Congress chief and former J&Okay Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad mentioned Monday that restoration of “full statehood” will likely be “top of the agenda”.
However, Azad, who has been invited for the June 24 assembly, was non-committal on whether or not he would demand restoration of particular standing to J&Okay. The assembly is the primary such train by the Union Government because the abrogation of Article 370 and splitting of J&Okay into two Union Territories in August 2019.
“Sabse unchi demand statehood ki hogi (Statehood will be the top demand). That will be top of the agenda. And it was promised on the floor of the House as well. Full-fledged statehood…not L-G’s statehood,” Azad advised The Indian Express.
Asked about Article 370, the Congress chief mentioned he’s in talks with get together leaders from each Jammu and Kashmir, and it’s too early to remark.

“I am consulting Congress leaders from both Jammu and Kashmir. After that, I will seek guidance from our party’s leadership — the Congress president and former prime minister Manmohan Singh — and those colleagues who were directly or indirectly involved in this….So it is too early to say. Yes, I can say that full statehood will be top of the agenda,” Azad mentioned. “We will formulate our stance… policy…after consultations and deliberations.”
Sources mentioned the J&Okay Policy Planning Group of the Congress will meet Tuesday to provide last form to the get together’s stand for the assembly. Apart from Azad, the panel includes Manmohan Singh, Karan Singh, P Chidambaram, AICC in-charge Rajni Patil, Tariq Hamid Karra and Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

Azad lauded the Government for taking such a step, “especially since the meeting is physical”. “We will get an opportunity to discuss freely,” he mentioned. Apart from Azad, the opposite Congress chief believed to have been invited for the assembly is the get together’s J&Okay chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Azad, the previous Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, had been closely essential of the Union Government for scrapping Article 370. His newest remarks, nonetheless, mirror the Congress’s official view — regardless of the differing opinions inside — that stresses extra on restoration of statehood and restart of the democratic course of than Article 370.

On Sunday, the get together reiterated its place with its communication division head Randeep Surjewala referring to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decision of August 6, 2019, demanding restoration of full statehood.
While the decision had attacked the BJP authorities on the way by which Article 370 was abrogated and J&Okay downgraded and cut up into two Union Territories, it shied away from demanding restoration of Article 370.

Arguing that Article 370 is the Constitutional recognition of the phrases of the Instrument of Accession between the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and India, the CWC had merely mentioned that it deserved to be honoured till it was amended after session with all sections in strict accordance with the Constitution.
On the stripping of J&Okay’s statehood, the decision had mentioned that “Jammu & Kashmir acceded to India as one State and no government has the power to change its status or divide it or reduce any part of it to a Union Territory.”

Azad’s newest feedback got here on the day former Union minister and CWC member Chidambaram demanded restoration of established order ante in J&Okay.
“Congress Party’s position, reiterated yesterday, that full Statehood must be restored to J&K should clear any doubt or ambiguity. What was made under the Constitution cannot be unmade by an Act of Parliament misinterpreting and misusing the provisions of the Constitution. Please remember that the dismembering of J&K has been challenged in the Supreme Court and the cases are pending for nearly 2 years. In the monsoon session, Parliament should repeal the offending laws and restore the status quo ante in J&K. That is the only way to draw the starting line for a political resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he tweeted.
He mentioned Jammu and Kashmir was a ‘state’ that signed an Instrument of Accession and acceded to India, and it should take pleasure in that standing eternally. “J&K is not a piece of ‘real estate’. J&K is ‘people’. Their rights and wishes must be respected,” he mentioned.