6th anniversary of August 5
Jammu: Playing down the rumours around Jammu and Kashmir regaining its statehood anytime soon, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that nothing like that is going to happen in the coming days, but also expressed optimism about “something positive” during the upcoming monsoon session of the legislative Assembly.
The buzz around J&K’s statehood to be restored started after President Droupadi Murmu had back-to-back meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
What fuelled the speculations was Amit Shah calling on some J&K leaders as well as the local BJP chief. Sources said PM Modi has also called a key meeting of NDA MPs on Tuesday.
“I’ve heard every possible permutation & combination about what to expect in J&K tomorrow so let me stick my neck out and say nothing will happen tomorrow – fortunately nothing bad will happen but unfortunately nothing positive will happen either. I’m still optimistic about something positive for J&K in this monsoon session of Parliament but not tomorrow,” Abdullah tweeted, responding to the rumours.
He also denied having had any meetings or conversations with the union leadership in Delhi. “This is just a gut feeling. Let’s see this time tomorrow”.
On August 5, 2019, apart from abrogating Article 370, J&K was bifurcated into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh – under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
On Sunday, PM Modi called on President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Interestingly, details of the meeting were not made available. Usually, a PIB statement follows such meetings.
Hours later, Amit Shah had a one-on-one meeting with the President.
In the first two days of the month, the Home Minister also held meetings with J&K BJP chief Sat Sharma and Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Kavinder Gupta.
On Monday, the president of the All J&K Shia Association, Imran Raza Ansari, met Shah to discuss the on-ground realities in the Union Territory.
Taking note of the meetings, experts and social media users also speculated that it could be a precursor to bringing a legislation to grant J&K statehood.
Retired Army officer and author Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, who is followed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, said there was a lot of speculation about what may be announced on August 5.
“The peace in Kashmir has come about at a great cost of human lives… we should not rush into any hasty decision. As the consolidation phase for restoration of peace is going on – let the whole thing settle down, let’s not jump the gun,” Dhillon tweeted.
Ever since Jammu-Kashmir’s statehood was revoked, both PM Modi and Amit Shah have assured of statehood restoration on several occasions without giving any timeline.
