Jammu and Kashmir will get the status of a state at the appropriate time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha on Saturday, 13 February, during the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament
Slamming the Opposition over the government's Article 370 move of August 2019, the home minister was quoted as saying, "We were asked what did we do about promises made during the abrogation of Article 370. It has been 17 months since the abrogation and you are demanding an account for it. Did you bring the account of what you did for 70 years? Had you worked properly, you need not have asked us... I have no objection. I will give an account for everything. But those who were given the opportunity to govern for generations should look within (to see) if they are even fit to demand an account."
‘No Fraud During DDC Elections’
On the Jammu and Kashmir Reogransation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – which seeks to merge the J&K cadre of All India Service Officers with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, and was introduced on Saturday in the Lower House – Shah said that bringing the Bill doesn't mean J&K won't get statehood.
"I am piloting the Bill, I brought it. I have clarified the intentions. Nowhere is it written that J&K won't get statehood. Where are you (Opposition MPs) drawing the conclusion from? I have said in this House and I say it again, that this Bill has got nothing to do with the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. Statehood would be given to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time," he reportedly said.
A devolution of power was effected in J&K after Article 370 was scrapped, with panchayats being given administrative and financial powers, Shah went on to point out, adding that the government will also connect the Kashmir Valley with railways by 2022.
“Nobody, not even our rivals, can say that there was fraud or unrest during the (DDC) elections. Everyone voted fearlessly and peacefully. 51 percent votes were cast in the Panchayat elections. Those who fought the polls on the basis of bringing back Article 370 have been wiped out.”Amit Shah, as quoted by ANI
After Shah’s address, in which he also promised 25,000 government jobs in J&K by 2022, the Bill in question was passed by the Lower House.
The abrogation of Article 370, stripping away Jammu and Kashmir's special status, was announced by the government on 5 August 2019. Along with repealing the special status, it was also announced then that the state would be bifurcated into two Union territories.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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