News Analysis India

Tag: Karan Singh

  • Jammu & Kashmir Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh quits party, cites disconnect

    By Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: In a setback to Congress, senior party leader Vikramaditya Singh, who is son of veteran Congress leader Karan Singh and grandson of last Dogra ruler of Jammu & Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh, on Tuesday resigned from the Congress saying the party is disconnected with the ground realities and unable to reflect sentiments and aspirations of J&K people.

    In his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Singh said, “It is my belief that the Congress is unable to realise and reflect the sentiments and aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir.” He also tweeted the copy of his resignation letter.

    Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested against senior BJP leader and Union minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat in 2019 parliamentary elections, said his position on critical issues vis-à-vis Jammu & Kashmir, which reflect national interests, do not align with that of the Congress party. 

    Singh’s resignation comes as a big jolt to the Congress as he was a prominent face of the party in Jammu region.

    He is weighing his political options and there is a possibility that he may join the BJP. He was among the first Congress leaders in Jammu to welcome the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. His younger brother Ajatshatru Singh is a senior BJP leader in J&K.

    Singh had joined the Congress in 2018. In October 2017, he had resigned from PDP and as MLC over differences with the party after the Mehbooba Mufti government did not declare a government holiday on the birthday of his grandfather (the last Maharaja of J&K).

  • PM’s meeting with J-K leaders ‘positive’ step; Centre must restore statehood before assembly polls: Karan Singh

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with top political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir as a “very positive step”, veteran Congress leader and former J&K governor Karan Singh on Friday said statehood must be restored before holding assembly polls there and asserted that such a move would go a long way in helping to “heal the wounds” of the people.

    Singh, the son of Maharaja Hari Singh who signed the terms of Kashmir’s accession in 1947, also said his personal opinion is that prima facie the revocation of special status under Article 370 seems “irreversible” but asserted that the matter was before the Supreme Court and it must be decided by the top court.

    In an interview with PTI, the last Sadr-e-Riyasat and first governor of the erstwhile state also demanded that the Centre must provide a “financial-cum- developmental package” to the people whose livelihoods were badly affected during the last two years following the Centre’s move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories and revoke its special status.

    His remarks come a day after Modi held talks with top political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and told them that the Centre’s priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly for polls to be held.

    Reacting to the prime minister’s meeting with 14 political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, including four former chief ministers, Singh said, “I definitely think it is a very positive step.

    First of all, because everybody was involved and people who once were discarded as anti-national, they all came — National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party both.”

    “I believe everybody spoke their mind very frankly and the prime minister listened very attentively to everybody. Three and a half hours of the meeting was there and my own view is that it is a very positive move because something was needed to break the ice,” the former Union minister said.

    The whole situation after the change of status had become “ossified politically”, Singh said, adding that the meeting was the start of a political process that is to be welcomed.

    Asked about the demand of most of Jammu and Kashmir leaders of restoration of statehood, he said it was a unanimous view because after being in special status for 70 years suddenly to be demoted to not even a state down to a Union Territory is “something nobody in Jammu and Kashmir has appreciated”.

    “So statehood is a universal demand, the question is timing. Now as I understand the situation, the first step now is delimitation. The delimitation commission is already working, they should submit their report very soon. After delimitation then the next step is elections. My own view is that. we should have elections as a full state,” Singh said.

    He asserted that full statehood for Jammu and Kashmir should definitely be restored before assembly elections because if it goes to polls as a Union territory and then becomes a state, that would not make any sense because the situations are different with difference in status.

    “As soon as possible, we should get statehood, I mean if we get it tomorrow there is nothing like it but in any case when we fight the next elections we must fight them as a full-fledged state,” the 90-year-old leader said.

    Singh also lamented that it was a “strange irony” that his father signed the instrument of accession for the whole state and “today we are having to fight for statehood”.

    Asked if statehood could reduce “dil ki doori’ — a term used by Prime Minister Modi at the meeting, Singh said restoring statehood will go a long way to help “heal the wounds”.

    “By itself, it won’t be enough but it would definitely be a major step,” he added.

    Asked about calls from a section for restoring Article 370 provisions that granted special status to J&K and were abrogated in 2019, Singh said, “My personal belief in this is that it seems to me prima facie that the changes are irreversible but the matter is before the Supreme Court so we shouldn’t unnecessarily make any detailed comment on it what should be done and what should not be done.”

    The veteran Congress leader urged the Supreme Court to take up the matter soon, asserting that it was a very crucial and important issue that should be given priority.

    Asked about divergent views struck by Congress leaders on the Article 370 issue, Singh said he was not a Congress spokesperson and would not want to speak on behalf of the party.

    “I expressed my personal view that it did not seem to me that Article 370 can be restored. My view may be slightly divergent from others. But the consensus is what Ghulam Nabi (Azad) said” and the matter is before the Supreme Court and they will decide on it.

    Asked what were his expectations from the Centre on J&K going forward, Singh said he expected that they would move forward as they say on delimitation, elections and statehood.

    Demanding a financial-cum- developmental package for the people of J&K, Singh said for two years the state suffered very heavily.

    “The whole Kashmir Valley, the horticulture was destroyed, tourism which is our mainstay was destroyed so tens of hundreds of crores of losses were suffered,” he said, adding that in Jammu also heavy losses were incurred.

    “So they should first compensate those people who lost during those two years,” he said.

    Singh said people of Jammu and Kashmir would want to see a visible spurt in developmental activity going forward.

    “Until we see a visible spurt in developmental activities, the claims that there is ‘great advantage’ now, people won’t swallow it,” he said.

    Modi’s J&K outreach saw the prime minister conveying to the 14 political leaders from the union territory during their face-to-face meeting here that he wanted to end the ‘Dilli ki Doori’ as well as ‘Dil ki Doori’ (distance from Delhi as well as the distance of hearts) with Jammu and Kashmir, which has witnessed a prolonged spell of militancy and unrest.

    The four former chief ministers of the erstwhile state who participated in the discussions were Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

    Four former deputy chief ministers were in attendance too – Congress’ Tara Chand, People’s Conference leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig and BJP’s Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.

    CPI-M leader Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) chief Altaf Bukhari, Sajjad Lone of the People’s Conference, J-K Congress head G A Mir, BJP’s Ravinder Raina and Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh also formed part of the delegation.

    This was the first interaction between the top leadership of the Union government and mainstream parties in J&K since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked its special status provided under Article 370 and bifurcated the border state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

  • After Gupkar Alliance, now Congress to participate in all-party meeting convened by PM Modi

    By PTI
    JAMMU: The Congress will attend the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday, its Jammu and Kashmir unit spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said on Tuesday.

    The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said.

    The meeting was attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior leaders Karan Singh, P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rajni Patil, G A Mir and Tariq Hameed Karra, the spokesperson said.

    Fourteen leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have been invited to the meeting to be chaired by the prime minister to discuss the future course of action for the union territory.

    Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president G A Mir and party leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are among the invitees.

    The meeting is the first such exercise since the Centre announced the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and its bifurcation into union territories on August 5, 2019.

    Congress’ declaration come safter the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) said it will attend the all-party meetingon Thursday, as per a statement by alliance chairperson Farooq Abdullah.

    The announcement came after PAGD leaders met at Abdullah’s Gupkar Road residence here on Tuesday to discuss the Centre’s invitation to leaders from Jammu and Kashmir.

    “We have received the invitation from the prime minister and we are going to attend (the meeting),” Abdullah, who was flanked by other leaders of the alliance, told reporters after the meeting.

    Fourteen leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have been invited to the meeting to be chaired by the prime minister to discuss the future course of action for the union territory.

    The meeting is the first such exercise since the Centre announced the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and its bifurcation into union territories on August 5, 2019.

    The PAGD chairperson said the alliance was confident that it would be able to put its stand before the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister during the meeting at New Delhi.

    “When the meeting ends, we will brief you here as well as in Delhi on what we did there, what we said and what was their response,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president said.

    Asked what would be the stand of the alliance, Abdullah said, “You all know our stand and there is no need to repeat it.”

    “Whatever our stand was, is still there and will be there,” he added.

    Various constituents of the PAGD have approached the Supreme Court with a petition asking for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and its statehood.

    The PAGD is a six-party alliance of mainstream parties which came into existence after the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

    Abdullah said all those invited will attend the meeting.

    “(PDP chief) Mehbooba ji, me, (CPI-M leader) Tarigami sahab and all those who have been invited from us (the alliance), will go,” he said.

    As the invitation is to individual leaders of various parties “they all will go and all will speak there”, the NC leader added.

    Asked about the agenda of the meeting, Abdullah said “no agenda has been pitched from their side (the Centre)”.

    “We can talk about any issue there,” he added.

    The alliance’s vice-chairperson and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti reiterated her party’s stand and said that she would press for the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir along with statehood.

    “We will talk on what has been snatched away from us, that it was a mistake and it was an illegal and unconstitutional act, without restoring which, the issue of J-K and the situation in J-K and peace in the whole region cannot be established,” Mehbooba said.

    Talking to reporters, PAGD spokesman and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami also hinted at seeking the restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir during the meeting with the prime minister.

    “We will not ask for the stars, but will seek what has been ours and should be ours only. As we have no information on the agenda of the meeting called by the PM, we will reiterate the stand of the PAGD there, before the highest leadership,” he said.

    The CPI(M) leader said the meeting with the prime minister was an opportunity and assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh that the leaders were going to Delhi to “advocate on their behalf”.

    “We will advocate in that court on the behalf of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. We will appeal to the PM of India about safeguarding the guarantees under the Constitution, which we have been given before, and to reconsider them,” he said, apparently referring to the erstwhile state’s special status.

    Tarigami said there should be no misconception among the people that the alliance leaders were going to sign on to the agenda set by the Centre.

    “No, we are not. We are going to see what proposal the PM of India has. If it is in our interest, the interest of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, then we will say yes and if otherwise, there is going to be a big no,” he said.

    Another PAGD member and Awami National Conference (ANC) senior vice president Muzaffar Shah said, “There can be no compromise on Article 370 and Article 35A,” which were revoked by the Centre on August 5, 2019.

    Shah is not among the invitees to the meeting.

    According to officials, the prime minister’s scheduled meeting with leaders from Jammu and Kashmir is part of the Centre’s initiatives to bolster political processes, including holding assembly elections, in the union territory.