Srinagar, June 11 (IANS) National Conference (NC) President and former J&K Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday that his party won’t beg anyone to join its protest in New Delhi for the restoration of statehood.

The NC will not invite any political party from Jammu and Kashmir to join its protest in Delhi for the restoration of statehood to J&K, he stressed.

“Whoever wants to join the protest can do so. We are not going to anyone with a (begging) bowl,” Abdullah told reporters here.

The NC has announced that it would stage a protest in Delhi demanding restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the Vice President of the party, has urged the INDIA bloc constituents to join the protest.

Asked if the NC would strive for unity on the crucial issue, Dr Abdullah said everyone was united as far as statehood is concerned.

On the chances of Jammu and Kashmir getting back special status, he said: “I am not god. Only Allah knows, and those who are in power in Delhi.”

He said his party is striving for the restoration of the special status. “We are already fighting for it. What more do you want? We are not silent. We will continue to fight. We have the right constitutionally to protest against what they have taken from us,” he added.

NC legislators, during their 7-hour-long meeting last week, decided to hold a protest march at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on the first day of the Parliament’s monsoon session for the restoration of statehood and constitutional guarantees to J&K.

Estranged NC MP, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, has said he will join the protests, but added that the main demand of the protest should be the restoration of the Constitution’s Article 370 to J&K.

The NC has not been inviting Ruhullah Mehdi to its meetings ever since he said in public that the party had done little to fulfil promises made to people in its 2024 election manifesto.

–IANS

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