New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) On the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, the Congress on Tuesday questioned the Centre over its failure to restore statehood to the region.

The party alleged that despite promises, the situation in J&K had not improved and the government was merely maintaining control without addressing ground realities.

Speaking to IANS, senior party leader and former Union Minister Pawan Bansal said: “They (the Narendra Modi government) had their own issue, and they have fulfilled it. Whether it was going to be of any benefit or not is a matter for a long discussion, but it has happened. Now, the point is, when they ended Article 370, they said the situation would improve. At the same time, they took away a very important province of our country, which was a state, and made it a Union Territory.”

Bansal questioned whether conditions in J&K had improved, claiming incidents in places like Pahalgam suggested otherwise.

“People were being lured and invited to visit, but what happened to our own people? They selectively killed people of the Hindu community. A poor pony rider who tried to save them was also killed. This clearly shows the situation has not improved. For six years, they have mostly spoken about progress in the media, pretending to have made changes, but the ground reality is different,” he told IANS.

“It has been six years. You have kept the state as a Union Territory. Why have you not restored it till now? It had the provincial level of statehood. Why not give it back? It may have been difficult to bring it under control as a state, but as a Union Territory, the government does not have full democratic rights vested in the people. If you want to win over the oppressed, hand power back to those elected by the people. That would be better than relying solely on military control and frequent encounters, which result in the loss of lives – of civilians, soldiers, and paramilitary personnel. What are we achieving? The BJP government has maintained its control there, nothing more. Restoring statehood is absolutely justified at this time,” Bansal added.

Congress MP Imran Masood also echoed the same sentiments. “All the rights of the people of Jammu have been taken away. Statehood has been taken away. Nothing has been given to them.”

–IANS

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