New Delhi: Taking a jibe at the Congress party on the duration of the state of Emergency imposed in 1975 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said political leaders detained in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to the state, will be released in “less than 18 months”.
“I am constantly asked by reporters on when the detained leaders will be released. My reply has always been ‘less than 18 months’, Singh said speaking at an event in Jammu’s Katra district. He said as soon as the situation normalises in J&K, statehood will be reverted.
In an apparent reference to continuation of Article 370 for seven decades, the minister said it would not take 72 years to restore J&K’s statehood.
Singh emphasised that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime, there was no place for separatist and anti-national activities.
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government over former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah’s detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA), which allows authorities to detain any individual for two years without trial.
“It is obvious that the government is trying to remove nationalist leaders like Farooq Abdullah to create a political vacuum in Jammu and Kashmir that will be filled by terrorists. Kashmir can then permanently be used as a political instrument to polarise the rest of India. The government should stop creating space for terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and release all nationalist leaders as soon as possible,” Rahul tweeted on Wednesday.
Besides Abdullah, former CMs Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and several other political leaders have been put under house arrest after revocation of Article 370 on August 6.
