New Delhi, July 16: Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for a legislation in Parliament’s upcoming Monsoon session to grant full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The leaders of opposition in the two houses of Parliament also called on the government to bring a legislation to include the Union Territory of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
In their joint letter to Modi, Kharge and Gandhi said that for the past five years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have consistently called for the restoration of statehood. This call is both legitimate and firmly grounded in their constitutional and democratic rights, they said.
“It is important to recognise that while there have been instances of Union territories being granted statehood in the past, the case of Jammu and Kashmir is without precedent in independent India. This is the first time a full-fledged state has been downgraded to a Union territory following its bifurcation,” the letter said.
“Your goodself has, on multiple occasions, personally reiterated the government’s commitment to restoring statehood. In your interview in Bhubaneswar on 19 May 2024, you stated: ‘The restoration of statehood is a solemn promise we have made and we stand by it’. Again, while addressing a rally in Srinagar on 19 September 2024, you reaffirmed: ‘We have said in Parliament that we will restore the region’s statehood’,” the two leaders said.
“In view of the foregoing and aforementioned, we urge upon the government to bring forward a legislation in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament to grant full statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” they said. (PTI)
