CM Omar Meets PM Modi With J&K Statehood Resolution After Getting Assurance From Home Minister

A week after taking office, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met PM Modi, presenting a cabinet resolution seeking the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

Srinagar:A week after taking over as the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening with a cabinet resolution seeking restoration of statehood, a source said. In the inaugural meeting of the cabinet, the Chief Minister, along with five ministers, passed the resolution seeking the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and authorised him to present it to the Prime Minister and Union Ministers.

The meeting with PM Modi followed his crucial meeting a day ago with Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, who assured him of possible support for regaining the statehood. After being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir last week, it was the first outreach of Abdullah with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

A source told ETV Bharat that Omar held a half-an-hour meeting with the Home Minister at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. The meeting took place in a ‘cordial manner’, the source said. “The Chief Minister was assured of all possible support for the restoration of statehood. Besides, he was also assured support on other crucial issues of Jammu and Kashmir,” the source added. The Chief Minister presented a cabinet resolution on the restoration of statehood to the Home Minister, the source added.

Earlier in the day, Abdullah met key Union Ministers, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday. The Chief Minister presented Kashmiri handmade shawls to them. The ruling National Conference said "many crucial matters related to J&K" were discussed at Wednesday's meeting between Abdullah and Amit Shah.

"Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in Delhi. Many crucial matters related to J&K were discussed," the JKNC wrote in a post on its official X handle.

In Srinagar, NC chief spokesperson and newly elected legislator Tanvir Sadiq confirmed to ETV Bharat that the meeting discussed the restoration of statehood besides other issues.

“About the meeting of CM Omar Abdullah with different ministers and of course with the Prime Minister, the meeting not only involves the statehood restoration, but many other crucial issues that concern Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Asked about the headway on statehood, Sadiq, who is also a close aide to Abdullah, said, “Let’s wait and watch. Let him meet the Prime Minister and other ministers. He has gone with a resolution (on the restoration of statehood) that the cabinet passed (to Delhi),” he added.

“The fact is that J&K was a prosperous state before 2019 and we want any development should happen through the popular government and that’s the beauty of democracy. The people choose their elected representatives and that’s how the government is made.”

According to him, the National Conference-led government should be given a chance to serve people and ‘there should be ‘no hindrance from anywhere’.

The restoration of statehood is a key issue for the Abdullah-led government after the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state was downgraded and bifurcated into two Union Territories in August 2019.

With the Prime Minister returning from Russia’s Kazan to Delhi after attending the BRICS summit on Thursday, Abdullah met him in the evening. He presented him with a Kashmiri shawl.

A source said he will present the cabinet resolution on statehood to PM Modi and take up other issues of Jammu and Kashmir. This will be the first formal meeting of the Chief Minister with the PM after five years since August 2019. Abdullah alongside his father and the former Members of Parliament Farooq Abdullah and Hasnain Masoodi met the Prime Minister days before the abrogation of Article 370.

Previously, both PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have promised restoration of statehood without fixing a deadline. Interestingly, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking restoration of the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The application was filed by academicians Zahoor Ahmad and Khurshid Malik.

In Jammu, BJP leader Ravinder Raina said the Central and State governments should discuss the restoration of statehood together as it is a ‘sensitive’ issue. “People's security is very important. The government will run and development will happen only if there is peace and prosperity here, if there is terrorism and extremism, people will suffer. With a lot of effort PM Modi and Amit Shah improved the situation here. Therefore, no policy or decisions should be taken in haste.”