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NEW DELHI: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will happen at an appropriate time and everyone must trust the public assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue.
In an exclusive video interview with PTI, Singh also dismissed as “irrelevant” a letter written by top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to the prime minister seeking a legislation in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament for the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
“I think that the question doesn’t carry much relevance for the simple reason that more than once Prime Minister Modi has himself said, not once but more than once, also publicly in some of the public rallies, that the government of India is committed to provide statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and it will happen at the appropriate time,” Singh said.
He was replying to a question on the letter written by Congress chief Kharge and Gandhi, as also demands made by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in this regard.
“I think after what has been said by the Prime Minister of India, there is no need to add to what is being said by him,” said Singh, a Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Asked whether efforts were underway for a legislation for the restoration of statehood to J&K in the upcoming Parliament Session starting Monday, the minister said he was not privy to any such proposal.
“No, I’m not privy to that and I don’t speak out of turn,” Singh said.
Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of full statehood in 2019 when the government bifurcated the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
At the time of bifurcation, the Union government had assured in Parliament as also in the Supreme Court that statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be restored in due course.
While Assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir last year and a government was formed under National Conference leader Abdullah, the full statehood is yet to be restored.
“When the prime minister says, I think we’ve every reason to trust what he says,” said Singh, a three-term Lok Sabha member from Udhampur in Jammu Division.
Asked whether the government had a timeline in mind, the minister said he was not mandated to speak on this issue. “But I would satisfy myself by stopping short of saying or repeating only what the prime minister has said,” Singh said.(Agencies)
