“Rahul Gandhi is frustrated and demoralised”: Union Minister Giriraj Singh

New Delhi [India], August 22 (ANI): Reacting to Leader of Opposition of Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s statement to restore Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Thursday said that the Congress leader is “frustrated and demoralised.”

“Rahul Gandhi has this thinking – to provoke the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He says that they (Congress) will restore Article 370 but the country won’t accept that. Rahul Gandhi is frustrated and demoralised. He couldn’t tell about his caste and religion but he talks about backwards in a political language,” Giriraj Singh told ANI.

Earlier today, the Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge held a meeting with the party workers of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

While addressing the event, Rahul Gandhi said that the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their statehood is the most important thing.

“You are not workers, you are family. As soon as we got to know that elections were going to be conducted, we first decided to come here to Jammu and Kashmir because we wanted to give a message to the people of every state that for us the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their statehood is the most important thing,” said Rahul Gandhi.

“In the history of India, after independence, many union territories have been converted into states but there is only one example when statehood was taken away and a union territory was created. This has never happened before and we want to give this message that the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is important, it is important for us and it is important for the country,” he added further.

Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. The results will be announced on October 4. The Election Commission has issued notification for the first phase of assembly seats for 24 seats. This is the first assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir since abrogation of Article 370