'Centre Wants To Convert J&K Into Hindu-Majority State": Farooq Abdullah

Reacting to Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on the restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir, JKNC MP Farooq Abdullah on Monday said that they (the government) will give a truncated statehood after elections.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will come up after assembly polls and that a call on the timing of elections will be taken by the Election Commission.

"I had clearly stated that statehood will be restored in Jammu and Kashmir after elections. Process of preparation of voters' list is nearing completion in the UT. Now, the Election Commission has to take a call on elections," Shah, in an exclusive interview with ANI, released on Tuesday, said.

To which Jammu and Kashmir's former CM said that he thinks they (the government) don't want to give statehood. "They will give truncated statehood after elections," he added.

Abdullah also alleged that the motive behind the delimitation exercise, completed in UT, is to turn J-K into a Hindu majority state.

"They think that we are fools, but we are not. We know what their intention is, if this was not their intention, they would not have done delimitation as well, as the way they did. They want that it should be converted into a Hindu-majority state," he added.

Earlier, in an interview with ANI, Shah also said that Article 370 pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, which was abrogated by the BJP-led government in 2019, had harmed the country.

He said the way development is taking place in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism is gradually ending.

"See all the figures, there is a lot of change in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

He went on to add that removing Article 370 has been on the agenda of BJP and Jan Sangh. He also referred India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the context of Article 370.

"Since 1950, it was on our agenda to remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the way Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing development and decrease in terrorism shows that changes that are coming," he said.

Shah said those slamming the BJP should answer in whose tenure terrorism grew in Jammu and Kashmir.

"As far as elections are concerned, do they not remember the local body polls, these were held under our rule, these did not take place for 70 years. Three families were holding sway in Jammu and Kashmir and they are making noise...Farooq Abdullah had gone to England. In whose tenure, terrorism grew, who allowed it to grow, there should be an answer," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)