Full statehood for J&K top agenda in meeting with PM: Ghulam Nabi Azad

AHEAD OF Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with key political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir this week, senior Congress leader and former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Monday that restoration of “full statehood” will be “top of the agenda”.

However, Azad, who has been invited for the June 24 meeting, was non-committal on whether he would demand restoration of special status to J&K. The meeting is the first such exercise by the Union Government since the abrogation of Article 370 and splitting of J&K into two Union Territories in August 2019.

“Sabse unchi demand statehood ki hogi (Statehood will be the top demand). That will be top of the agenda. And it was promised on the floor of the House as well. Full-fledged statehood…not L-G’s statehood,” Azad told News Agency.

Asked about Article 370, the Congress leader said he is in talks with party leaders from both Jammu and Kashmir, and it is too early to comment.

“I am consulting Congress leaders from both Jammu and Kashmir. After that, I will seek guidance from our party’s leadership — the Congress president and former prime minister Manmohan Singh — and those colleagues who were directly or indirectly involved in this….So it is too early to say. Yes, I can say that full statehood will be top of the agenda,” Azad said. “We will formulate our stance… policy…after consultations and deliberations.”

Sources said the J&K Policy Planning Group of the Congress will meet Tuesday to give final shape to the party’s stand for the meeting. Apart from Azad, the panel comprises Manmohan Singh, Karan Singh, P Chidambaram, AICC in-charge Rajni Patil, Tariq Hamid Karra and Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

Azad lauded the Government for taking such a step, “especially since the meeting is physical”. “We will get an opportunity to discuss freely,” he said. Apart from Azad, the other Congress leader believed to have been invited for the meeting is the party’s J&K chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir.

Azad, the former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, had been heavily critical of the Union Government for scrapping Article 370. His latest remarks, however, mirror the Congress’s official view — despite the differing opinions within — that stresses more on restoration of statehood and restart of the democratic process than Article 370.