Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday termed the delay in restoring statehood to J&K “deeply unfair” and questioned whether people were being “punished” for not electing a BJP chief minister.
Speaking to media, the chief minister expressed disappointment over what he described as an unexplained and prolonged delay. “Of course it is disappointing. We are well past the point of early. Early would have been soon after the elections. We are, as you said, 20 months into the government. It’s no longer early. It has been needlessly delayed. And the sad fact is nobody is able to explain why. You hear every time that Jammu and Kashmir statehood will be restored at the appropriate time. But nobody tells us when the appropriate time is.”
Abdullah said the lack of clarity around the Centre’s timeline had created uncertainty. “What is the yardstick to measure appropriate time? At least if we knew what the appropriate time would be, how to measure it, we would work towards it… So we are chipping away. We keep the demand alive. We keep talking about it. But I think it’s deeply unfair to the people of J&K that this promise is not being kept,” he said.
Referring to the Centre’s earlier roadmap—delimitation, elections and restoration of statehood—he pointed out that the first two steps had already been completed, while his government was nearing two years in office.
He then raised a pointed political question: “Is it because the BJP was not allowed to form a government here? Is that why the people of J&K are being punished?”
“If that is the case, the BJP should have stood up in Parliament or told the Supreme Court that till a BJP chief minister sits in Jammu and Kashmir, you will not get statehood… Then I would have believed that these people are telling the truth,” he added.
