New Delhi, Jul 22: Congress today said that a protest dharna was held today at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in support of its demand for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
According to a press release issued by the party, the protest dharna was followed by a march towards Parliament, which was foiled . Several senior AICC leaders including KC Venugopal, Digvijay Singh, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, Rajni Patil,Imran Masood and Imran Pratapgarhi addressed the gathering and joined the protest amidst heavy rains.
JKPCC President Tariq Hameed Karra, AICC General Secretary and CLP leader G A Mir, Working President Raman Bhalla, Ex- MP Choudhary Lal Singh ,Shah Nawaz Chaudhary, Neeraj Kundan,Mula Ram, Balwan Singh, Ravinder Sharma,,Yogesh Sawhney, and Ved Mahajan reached the venue.
“They held a protest demonstration against central government for downgrading the historical Dogra state and then denying statehood despite promise on multiple occasions in six years. Senior AICC leaders joined the protest dharna and march on the directions of Congress President Malikarjun Kharge and LoP in Lok sabha Rahul Gandhi,”the press release said.
Addressing the gathering AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal criticised the central government government for doing injustice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said it was the only example in country where a state is converted and downgraded into UT. “We have seen UTs upgraded to states in independent India,”he said. He questioned why Modi government is not restoring the statehood to J&K people who have stood against Pahalgam attack and shower their patriotic commitment but BJP is not fulfilling its commitment.
