New Delhi: The Congress slammed the Centre over development in Jammu and Kashmir saying the border Union Territory had been under the Central rule since 2018 when the PDP-BJP government was in power, but the erstwhile state still lagged on several progress indicators and terrorism had spread to the usually peaceful Jammu region.
The Congress said the BJP wanted to control the border area by dividing the people and claimed that only the INDIA bloc was capable of rising to the expectations of the voters.
The grand old party also slammed PM Modi, who visited the Doda area on September 14, for playing up the threat of the return of Article 370, which gave Special Status to Jammu & Kashmir and was removed in 2019, to confuse the voters.
AICC in-charge of J&K Bharatsinh Solanki said the BJP feared losing power at the Centre as the saffron party after losing all four Assembly polls in UT J&K and states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand to be held this year.
“The BJP is worried that it is going to lose the four forthcoming Assembly polls, which would then have an impact on the stability of the NDA government at the Centre, which depends on the support of allies like JD-U, LJP and TDP. They have been in control of J&K since 2018 when the PDP-BJP government fell and the former state came under Central rule, but they have not done any development there. They claimed that after the removal of Article 370 in 2019, terrorism would go away in the border area, but the menace has now reached the peaceful Jammu area under their watch,” Solanki told ETV Bharat.
“They have nothing positive to tell the people. Hence, they are raising the divisive issue that Article 370 would return to J&K if the INDIA bloc came to power. But the people who are suffering due to lack of development and the youth due to high unemployment at 23 per cent are now wiser. Only the INDIA bloc can rise to the expectations of the people. Our stand on Article 370 has been clear since day one,” he said.
The AICC functionary further said that never before in the history of Independent India had a state been converted into a UT as was done in J&K and the return of full statehood was a major issue for the locals.
“They kept saying they were in favour of the return of full statehood, but never took that decision. They kept postponing the Assembly elections over the past five years over one or the other pretext. The Assembly polls are now being held under the directive of the Supreme Court. Since 2018, the people of J&K have been denied any avenues to express their grievances. The region has become a bureaucratic fiefdom controlled by the BJP. Can the Prime Minister give a straight answer when full statehood will return to Jammu and Kashmir,” said Solanki.
Expressing concern over the rise in terrorist attacks in the Jammu region over the past months, the AICC functionary said the security situation in the UT was worrisome.
“Who will take moral responsibility for the loss of two Army personnel in Kishtwar on September 13? As many as 53 security personnel have been killed in the south of Pir Panjal since 2021 in an area where there were no major incidents of terrorism between 2007 and 2014. Infiltration from Pakistan is rising along the International Border and a palpable sense of insecurity prevails across J&K,” he added.
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