Will Put Pressure On Govt For Restoring J&K Statehood: Rahul

Surankote (J&K): Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Congress wants Jammu and Kashmir to be run by locals rather than from Delhi, and promised the party would put pressure on the Centre to restore J-K’s statehood after the ongoing assembly polls.

Addressing a rally in the Surankote assembly segment of Poonch district, Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming the INDIA bloc “broke his psychology” after the Lok Sabha elections. “He used to boast about a 56-inch chest but he is not the same person anymore”. The Lok Sabha MP accused the BJP and RSS of spreading “hatred and violence” in the country and dividing people on the lines of caste, creed, religion, region and language.

He said there are numerous examples of union territories being upgraded to states but never ever in the history of India a state was downgraded to a union territory. “For the first time, a full-fledged state (J&K) was turned into a UT and your democratic rights were snatched,” he told the rally, also attended by Congress ally and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.

“We will put pressure on them (government) and we will ensure that it (restoration of statehood) is done. If they don’t do it we will,” Gandhi said. Seeking support for Congress-National Conference alliance candidates, he said his party wanted the restoration of statehood before the ongoing polls.