J&K: BJP slammed over UT foundation day, demand for early polls rise

Jammu: The Congress and the National Conference on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP over the observance of the Union Territory Foundation Day in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded the restoration of statehood and early Assembly polls.

While the Congress staged a peaceful protest here, the NC said the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has demeaned the glory of the Dogra community.

Both parties demanded the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir and a democratically elected government.

On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The over-hour-long protest led by Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani outside party headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk was part of the party’s announcement of observing the fourth UT foundation day by the Jammu and Kashmir administration as “black day”.

Carrying placards in support of their demand for restoration of statehood and holding of early assembly elections, the protesters, including former ministers and legislators, raised slogans against the UT administration — which held a series of functions across all 20 districts to celebrate the day — and the BJP.

Senior NC leader Rattan Lal Gupta said the BJP has rubbed salt into the wounds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by celebrating the foundation day.

“It has demeaned the glory of the Dogra community as it was on this day that the erstwhile J&K state was downgraded and cut into pieces,” Gupta, who is the Jammu provincial president of the party, said.

He said people having the slightest idea of the formation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir know well how bravely Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh and his late General Zorawar Singh fought to expand his empire up to China and Tibet thus making it one of the biggest states in the country.