New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress on Saturday asked when will full statehood return to the union territory and alleged that the region has “become a bureaucratic fiefdom controlled by the BJP-RSS cabal”.
Prime Minister Modi addressed an election rally in the Doda district of Jammu region in support of BJP candidates.
Congress general secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh noted that since the fall of the PDP-BJP government in 2018, Jammu and Kashmir has been administered by the Modi government.
Posing questions to the PM, Ramesh asked when will full statehood return to Jammu and Kashmir.
He alleged that since 2018, the people of J&K have been denied any avenue to express their grievances.
“The region has become a bureaucratic fiefdom controlled by the BJP-RSS cabal. While claiming to have ended special status for J&K, the government has in fact created an extra-special situation of a new and unique political system: one where the state has been downgraded to a UT, elections have been suspended, and all norms of constitutional morality violated,” he alleged.
In his speech in Parliament on December 11, 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah stated that full statehood to J&K would be restored at an “appropriate time”, Ramesh pointed out.
“Five years after being stripped of their statehood, the people of J&K still lack clarity on what the timeline for this return of statehood is. Based on the experience of the last five years, where the Assembly elections were delayed on one pretext or the other, the people of J&K don’t buy the center’s assurance of restoration of statehood,” Ramesh said in his post on X.
“Can the Prime Minister give a straight answer to this key question as to when will full statehood return to Jammu and Kashmir?” he asked.
Ramesh further asked who will take moral responsibility for the loss of two Indian Army personnel to terrorist attacks in Kishtwar on Friday.
“One of the most repeated talking points of the non-biological PM is that the Government’s abrogation of Article 370 has curbed terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The mood on the ground in J&K, however, is one of anxiety. At least fifty-three security personnel have been killed to the south of Pir Panjal since 2021, in an area where there were no major incidents of terrorism between 2007 and 2014,” he said.
“In the last few months, it has spread even to neighboring districts that we considered largely peaceful: as evinced by the attack in Reasi on the 9th of June, the attack in Kathua on the 10th of June, in Doda on the 11th of June, in Udhampur on the 19th of August, and in Kishtwar on 13th of September. Infiltration from Pakistan is rising along the International Border, and a palpable sense of insecurity prevails across J&K,” the Congress leader said.
“The non-biological Prime Minister has been conspicuously silent even amidst this surge in terrorism,” he said.
“Why has Modi’s government failed to salvage the security situation in J&K and what is his vision to restore normalcy?” he asked.
“Why is the central government consistently lying to the country about the security situation in J&K?” Ramesh asked.
He further asked why there has been a “sharp increase in narcotics smuggling” under the Union government’s administration.
One fundamental reason for the upsurge in terrorist activity, particularly in Jammu, is the sharp rise in narcotics smuggling over the last few years with the International Border in Jammu rather than the LoC in Kashmir, being the primary area of operation for the smugglers, he claimed.
Narcotics consumption has seen a 30 percent hike in five years, and the smuggling rings have become very sophisticated, with involvement even of government officials, he alleged.
Between 2019 and 2023, state police and other security forces seized over 700 kg of heroin valuing roughly Rs 1,400 crore in the international market, he said.
This is apart from the 2,500 kg of charas (cannabis) and nearly 1 lakh kg of opium derivatives seized across J&K in the same period, he said.
“J&K has even become a transit destination for drugs, routing them to states like Punjab and Gujarat, and even international markets. Former J&K DGP Dilbag Singh has gone on record to say that the ‘Drug menace is a bigger threat than militancy’,” Ramesh said.
Six years after having acquired unelected power, what has the Union government achieved in curtailing the drug menace, the Congress general secretary asked.
Ramesh also alleged that the government “failed” to support Kashmiri Pandits.
“The BJP has exploited the misery of the Kashmiri Pandits in every election campaign. However, ten years after coming to power, the government and the Home Minister have done absolutely nothing for the community and have not even held a meeting with the community’s representatives,” he said.
In consultation with the community, the Manmohan Singh government had devised a 6,000-job employment package for Kashmiri Pandit youth to take up jobs in Kashmir Valley, Ramesh said.
“For all the bluster of the current government, that remains the last major intervention by the Union government to rehabilitate the Pandit community, even amidst a nationwide social and political consensus for the community’s Gharwapsi,” he said.
“Does the non-biological PM view the community only as a talking point? Why has he neglected the community’s interests over the last decade?” Ramesh said.
“Why has Jammu and Kashmir’s economic situation only declined since 2019?” Ramesh further asked.
Terrorism increased in J&K since Modi sworn in for third term: Cong
Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of failing to end terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and claimed that terrorism has returned stronger in union territory where it had been eliminated many years ago.
Addressing a press conference at the party office here, the party’s spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said there have been 25 terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in the 98 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for his third term.
“Huge claims were made that after August 2019, peace will be established in Jammu and Kashmir. I will not talk about the time since 2014 or 2019, but it has been 98 days since Modi was sworn in. In the last 98 days, there have been 25 terror strikes in J&K in which 21 security personnel were martyred, while 28 others were injured,” she said.
Shrinate said 15 citizens of the union territory have also lost their lives in these terror attacks, while 47 people were injured.
“Who will answer for it? Jammu was peaceful, the insurgency had ended there, but now, we are again witnessing terror attacks in Jammu’s Doda, Reasi, and other areas,” she added.
The Congress spokesperson paid tributes to the two soldiers who lost their lives in an encounter with terrorists in the Kishtwar district of Jammu on Friday.
She alleged the prime minister has not been offering his tributes to the fallen soldiers since 2019.
“PM tweets on small issues, discovers new countries on the world map to travel to and wishes happy birthday to people, but since 2019, Modi has stopped sending tribute or sympathy messages. Our officers and soldiers lost their lives, Jammu and Kashmir police personnel were killed, but Modi has not uttered a single word to offer tributes or sympathies after 2019,” Shrinate alleged.
“Check his media and social media and see if he has even taken notice of one such attack. The least you can do is pay homage for the supreme sacrifices our force and police forces are making in J&K” she added.
Shrinate said Modi chose not to do that “because you want to tell the world that everything is alright in J&K”.
“No, it is not alright because militancy that had completely evaporated and vanished in Jammu, is back with a vengeance and what are you doing (about it)? This is your failure,” she claimed.
