The centre’s pledge to restore statehood was the key takeaway of yesterday’s meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired with all mainstream party leaders of Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision follows the call for the restoration of statehood by several participants in the meeting. PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated their previous public commitments to restoring Jammu and Kashmir to its status as a state. Their assurances were taken on board by the participants, people with knowledge of the meeting told India Narrative.

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The decision is highly significant as it follows the government’s August 5, 2019 announcement  to change J& K’s status from  statehood to that of a centrally governed Union Territory. Analysts say that the assurances from India’s top leadership is expected to have major downstream impact on a national, regional and international level, including a possible activation of contacts with Pakistan following the revival of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

In fact, during the meeting Home Minister Shah emphasised that the government was committed to complete the delimitation process and thereafter elections to the Assembly at the earliest with the cooperation of all stakeholders. He urged all the leaders to aid in the early completion of the Delimitation process so that Assembly elections are held expeditiously.

PM Modi assured all parties that they would be an integral part of the delimitation process and their views would be taken on board. Accordingly, he urged them to participate in the process to ensure early completion.

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The Prime Minister also assured that Assembly elections would be held expeditiously after the delimitation process was completed. He specially noted that a bureaucratic government was no substitute for one run by public representatives.

These commitments were made in the backdrop of establishing a three-tier Panchayati Raj System with the election and constitution of Block and District Development Council.

Other major results of the meeting:

Development effort

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction at the progress of development progress in J&K. He urged all the leaders to work together with the Government for the progress of J&K and to realise the aspirations of youth.

HM Shah said that J&K had come a long way with a major boost to development along with transparency. This had benefited J&K both in terms of infrastructure development as well as individual beneficiary schemes.

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90% saturation has been achieved in individual beneficiaries of Central Government schemes in J&K. Several major road projects, two new AIIMS, 7 new medical colleges are being set up. New Industrial Policy has been notified with Rs. 28,400 Crore package to accelerate industrial growth in J&K with creation of 4.5 lakh jobs.

PM’s commitment to J&K

PM conveyed to the participants of his personal sorrow at every death in Kashmir, no matter whether it was an innocent civilian, a Kashmiri boy who had picked up the gun or a member of the security forces.

He noted that the security forces themselves could not change the situation and called upon all the leaders to personally involve themselves in stopping needless loss of lives.

Participation

Apart from PM Modi and HM Shah the participants included Lieutenant Governor J&K Manoj Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajith Doval, MOs (PMO) Jitender Singh and other senior officials. 

The mainstream J & K leaders comprise Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mehbooba Mufti, Umar Abdullah, Kavinder Gupta, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Nirmal Singh, Tara Chand, Mohmmad Altaf Bukhari, Sajad Gani Lone, Ravinder Raina, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Bhim Singh.

Atmospherics

PM Modi appreciated the cordial atmosphere of talks and the frank exchange of views.

PM noted with great satisfaction that the meeting’s proceedings reflected commitment to the territorial integrity of the nation and the Constitution of India. This reinforced belief in the strength of India’s democracy.

All participants were invited to and did express their concerns on all aspects freely and were given a patient hearing in a cordial atmosphere.