New Delhi: 14 Jammu and Kashmir leaders from eight parties were invited for the meet with PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting with political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir in his first such outreach after the scrapping of special status under Article 370 in 2019. Here’s your 10-point cheatsheet to the present big story: The meeting is aimed toward setting on track the political process in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been under President’s Rule since 2018 when the ruling coalition collapsed after the BJP snapped ties with then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Jammu and Kashmir parties are expected to be sounded out on delimitation or redrawing of constituencies because the initiative towards assembly polls after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories. the govt says while restoration of statehood are going to be considered at an appropriate time, that point has not come yet. Fourteen leaders from eight political parties — including Ms Mufti’s PDP and therefore the National Conference — are invited. The Gupkar Alliance of Ms Mufti and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah – a seven-party conglomeration formed to push for restoration of statehood and special status – had decided to hitch the meet to press for full statehood.”I am getting to the meeting. I will be able to keep the stress there then I will be able to ask you,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters before the meeting. The meeting is that the Centre’s first major outreach to political leaders of the Union Territory since August 2019, when the Centre scrapped special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. Several political leaders, including Ms Mufti, Farooq Abdullah, and his son Omar Abdullah, were detained amid massive security restrictions to stop any violent protests over the sweeping changes. On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Jammu and Kashmir elected official Manoj Sinha and top security and intelligence officers. Home ministry officials have said with terrorism at a coffee within the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, the timing is true to start the political process. There was an expectation that assembly elections are going to be held alongside the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. But the committee flagged concerns about security expressed by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. In December, local body elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir, during which Gupkar Alliance won quite 100 seats and therefore the BJP emerged because the single largest party with 74 seats.
