Srinagar: CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami on Monday asked the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to explain when would the “appropriate time” for restoring the statehood to Hammu and Kashmir come about. K
“Home minister Amit Shah needs to make it clearer as what it means when he said in the Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir will get back the status of a state at an ‘appropriate time’,” Tarigami said in a statement.
He said for the last one-and-half years, the BJP government has been making such “vague statements”.
“But the home minister needs to define what the ‘appropriate time’ means. The BJP government can’t hide behind vague statements for a long time now,” he said.
“When Amit Shah says that 17 months is a little time to make development happen in Jammu and Kashmir, he forgets that the BJP is in the government since last almost seven years at both the Center and J&K. First the BJP was in power J&K in alliance government for three-and-half years and since 2018, it is directly ruling the region,” Tarigami pointed out.
He said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah tried to justify the “wrong decision” of abrogation of J&K’s special status and downgrading of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, by stating that it would end the decades-long militancy, separatism and corruption in the region and bring development, jobs and prosperity to the region.
“The BJP government was claiming that Article 370 hindered development in J&K. But one-and-half years down the line, the facts belie the claims of Modi and Shah. People of J&K and the country want to ask them how much development has happened. Where is investment, and job opportunities which they claimed will come after the revocation of J&K’s special status?” Tarigami asked.
“Making excuses is easy, but the reality is that the August 05, 2019 decision of the BJP government was undemocratic and unconstitutional. Now the BJP government is trying to hide behind the façade of excuses,” he said.
