Jammu: BJP General Secretary for Jammu and Kashmir, Ashok Koul, Monday clarified that the BJP-led Central Government will assess specific parameters before granting statehood back to Jammu and Kashmir.
He emphasized that only the elected government in New Delhi has the authority to restore statehood, a commitment already made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Reacting to recent remarks by Apni Party Chairman Syed Altaf Bukhari, who claimed that only his party could restore statehood, Kaul dismissed the statement with skepticism. “I don’t know what kind of magical wand Apni Party has and how it plans to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir,” he remarked.
Koul while talking to the news agency Kashmir News Trust reiterated that the BJP remains committed to returning statehood to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time. “Sooner or later, Jammu and Kashmir will get back its status as a state, and it will be the BJP that fulfills this promise,” he said.
Notably, the restoration of statehood has been a prominent issue in political discourse since Jammu and Kashmir was reorganized as a Union Territory in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370. BJP leaders have consistently maintained that statehood will be granted when conditions align with the central government’s goals of peace and progress for the region. [KNT]
