Only BJP has power to grant statehood, J&K’s UT status is temporary: PM Modi

Exuding confidence in the high poll percentage in Jammu and Kashmir during the first two phases of the Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the BJP was set to “form the next government in the UT with an absolute majority”.

“There has been a massive turnout in the first two phases of the elections. It’s certain that the BJP is going to form its first government with an absolute majority. Never before has such an opportunity come for the people of the Jammu region,” he said.

Modi maintained that it was the “first time that a government would be formed as per the wishes of the people of the Jammu region”. “You must not miss this opportunity because the BJP government that will be formed here will alleviate your pain,” the PM said during a rally at the MA Stadium in Jammu. The third and the final phase of the elections will be held in four districts of Jammu region and certain parts of Kashmir on October 1.

Reiterating that statehood would be granted to J&K, he said the transformation to a UT was temporary. “The BJP is the only party that can restore statehood,” he said.

Targeting the NC, Congress and the PDP, he said these parties would “resume discrimination with Jammu if they returned to power”. “The Congress-NC alliance and the PDP are frustrated following the positive changes that are taking place in J&K. They don’t like your development. Their leaders are openly saying if their government is formed, they will bring back the old system… the old discriminatory regime whose biggest victim has been Jammu,” he said.

Modi alleged that the Congress had been hijacked by the sympathisers of “urban Naxals” who had been welcoming infiltrators due to vote bank politics. He recalled that surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan were launched on the night of September 28 in 2016. “India had made it clear to the world that this was a ‘new India’ that had the courage to attack enemies in their bastions. The terrorism perpetrators now know if they dare to do anything, they can’t hide anywhere,” he said.