Statehood is BJP's promise, no need for Omar Abdullah to seek it: J&K LoP

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir BJP on Saturday said there was no need for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to seek restoration of the Union Territory's statehood as it was the saffron party's narrative, and that it would be restored at an appropriate time.

"It is unfortunate that the National Conference keeps on harping about statehood. Statehood is our narrative, it is the BJP's promise," said senior BJP leader and leader of opposition in the J-K assembly Sunil Sharma.

Talking to reporters here, he said Abdullah should rather focus on fulfilling the promises he made to the people.

Raising religious and provocative slogans inside the assembly will not accelerate the process of statehood restoration, Sharma said, alleging that National Conference leaders were attempting to provoke religious sentiments in the assembly.

"The assembly is not Jamia Masjid. Slogans that should be raised in Jamia Masjid were raised in the assembly. The assembly is a place for debate and legislation," the BJP leader said.

"Do they want to make assembly a ring of jehad? Do they want to instigate legislative jehad? Such activities will not be accepted," he said, adding, "No citizen of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Muslims, will accept a statehood in which such slogans are raised in its assembly." Sharma said the ruling party was "enacting a drama" inside the assembly to run away from discussions over people's issues.

"It was for the first time in the history of the assembly that the government itself did not allow the House to run. The government was theirs, the Speaker was theirs, but they enacted a drama opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill and did not allow the House to run for three days because they did not want people's issues to be discussed," he said.

The leader of opposition said two assembly sessions were held in the last six months, but none of the promises in the National Conference's manifesto were reflected in either the assembly or in normal governance.

"They gave free bus rides to women, but they increased the fares and fuel prices. The routine governance and the assembly sessions reflect the failure of the National Conference government. It reflects betrayal of the people," he added.

Sharma said the BJP-led Central government is committed to the holistic development of Jammu and Kashmir. "All centrally-sponsored schemes will continue to run without any hurdles," he said.

He however, said there will be no compromise on terrorism and separatism.

"We will not rest until we wipe out terrorism, separatism and stone-pelting. There will be no compromise until peace is established fully," he stated.

Sharma said situation in the Union Territory has improved significantly and the BJP will not allow the return of violence.

"The situation has improved significantly. Schools are open, there are no hartals, no stone-pelting. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah took the responsibility of the security, normalcy has returned to downtown Srinagar and it is flourishing," he said.

He accused the National Conference (NC) of never trying to establish peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

"When the NC government was in power, schools, hospitals and government buildings were burnt. NC says that 10,000 of its workers were killed. But they were killed during NC governments when Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah were heading the home department," he said.

"Since law and order came under the Union Home Ministry, not a single NC worker has been killed," he added.