Modi, Shah kept silent when issue of restoring Article 370 came up: J&K CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami

The PM said in the meeting that he is committed to restore statehood and democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. He, however, did not give any timeframe.

On behalf of CPI(M), I told the PM that while holding such a meeting was a welcome step, it would have been better if the meeting had been held before August 5, 2019, when the Centre did away with Article 370 and bifurcated the state of J&K into two Union territories. I told the PM that all political parties from Jammu and Kashmir had appealed to the government not to take that step, but it did not pay any heed at that time. Now the government wants talks…

The second thing I said was that nothing less than what was guaranteed by the Constitution would be acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We must follow what the Constitution guarantees to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, I told the PM and the Home Minister during the meeting. I said the people of Jammu and Kashmir believe that constitutional boundaries laid down by the Constituent Assembly have been violated by the government.

Both the PM and HM listened carefully. Each of us was given enough time to speak in the meeting. There was no constraint of time. It took about three hours to conclude the meeting.

The PM said points/issues raised by us had been jotted down and the government will convene a follow up meeting also. He said let us work for the future together.

Modi said he was happy to meet all of us. He also said his government was concerned about the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said ideas shared by the leaders will help in restoring statehood.

The Home Minister said two things. One, he urged all of us to participate in the delimitation process and said that once the delimitation process was completed, elections will be held at the earliest. Second, he said that the PM and he himself were committed to restoring statehood, which will be done at an appropriate time.

I intervened. Ghulam Nabi Azad also intervened. Azad emphasized that Jammu and Kashmir should not be governed by an LG, but should be given full statehood. They only said statehood would be restored at the earliest.

The Home Minister said that delimitation would be done based on recommendations given by political parties. To this, I intervened and said that when delimitation was constituted, Assam and other states were also included. If you can hold elections in Assam without delimitation, why is this government insisting on delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir?

The government did not say anything on Article 370. They were silent on it.

As I said in the beginning, we want what the Constituent Assembly had promised to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, later incorporated by the Constitution under Article 370.