Modi govt’s betrayal of J&K continues: Cong on Centre vesting more powers in LG

New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday alleged the Narendra Modi government’s “betrayal” of Jammu and Kashmir was on unabated and the Centre vesting more powers in the Lieutenant Governor was another example of “Samvidhan Hatya Diwas” continuing daily under its rule.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the insertion of new sections giving more powers to the L-G by amending the Rules under Section 55 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, has only two meanings.

One of those was that the Modi government “wants to delay the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, even though the Supreme Court has mandated Assembly Elections by September 30, 2024,” he said on ‘X’.

The other meaning was that “even if full statehood is restored, it wants to keep the newly elected state government at the mercy of the LG, by clamping its executive power,” he added.

Kharge said it was “another example of ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ continuing daily under the Modi government.” The Congress president also said the Modi government’s “betrayal of Jammu and Kashmir continues unabated”.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently announced that the Union government has decided to observe June 25, the day Emergency was declared in 1975, as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ to commemorate the “massive contributions” of those who endured inhuman pains of the period.

On Friday, the Centre vested more powers in the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir for taking decisions on police, officers of all-India services such as the IAS and the IPS, and giving sanctions for prosecution in various cases.

Decisions regarding the appointment of advocate general and other law officers, besides matters related to the anti-corruption bureau, will also be taken by the lieutenant governor (L-G).

These powers were given to the L-G by amending the rules issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which was enacted for the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, while abrogating Article 370.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “The only meaning that can be drawn from this notification is that full-fledged statehood for Jammu and Kashmir does not seem likely in the immediate future.”

There has been a consensus across political parties that Jammu and Kashmir must immediately become a full-fledged state of the Indian Union once again, he said.

“The self-anointed non-biological PM is on record saying that full-fledged statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir, which had been reduced to a Union Territory in August 2019,” Ramesh said.

“The Supreme Court had mandated that elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly should be held by September 30, 2024,” he said.