On Saturday, August 7, the second day of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Rahul Gandhi and the leaders of his alliance parties are fooling the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Shah said that the opposition parties cannot restore the state status of Jammu and Kashmir. The central government has the right to restore the state status. He further said that the central government will restore the state status at the right time. What does this statement of the Union Home Minister mean? If the central government has the right to restore the state status, then does it mean that if the anti-BJP parties or their alliance wins the election in the state, will the state status not be restored? If the opposition parties win, will the right time that they have talked about not come? What is the definition or limit of the right time?
Keep in mind that the Supreme Court had made a very clear decision on 11 December 2023. The court had said that assembly elections should be held in Jammu and Kashmir by 30 September and its statehood should be restored as soon as possible. The Supreme Court said as soon as possible because the central government had expressed its inability to give a definite time for restoring the status of the state. Now elections are being held in the state but even in that the Supreme Court has been told that the government and the Election Commission do not accept its decision. That is why symbolically one phase of voting in the state was kept on October 1 and the date of counting was kept after that. Since the election process started before 30 September, no one paid attention to this detail. That is why there is enough reason to believe that if the BJP does not win the elections, then the decision to restore full statehood may be delayed some more. It is also possible that Jammu and Kashmir may not get the status of a full state. It should remain a Union Territory with an assembly like Delhi and Puducherry. That is why the Lieutenant Governor has been given more powers.
Anyway, before Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi had visited Jammu and Kashmir, where he said that he means the opposition alliance is going to give the status of a state to Jammu and Kashmir. Amit Shah got annoyed with his language. But it seems that Rahul Gandhi has got the confidence to speak in this language from the recent developments. This time, for the third time after the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is taking a U-turn on one decision after another. Whatever the opposition is demanding is being fulfilled. That is why the opposition parties have started saying that the government is working according to them. Memes of ‘Government is yours, system is ours’ are being made on social media. Actually, the opposition parties are sensing on which issue the supporters of the government will also support them and they are highlighting that issue. Later, when the government backs out from the decision, the opposition is taking credit for it. The opposition parties are feeling something similar about the state status of Jammu and Kashmir. That is when Rahul made the claim with great confidence and Amit Shah got angry at him and said that nothing is in your hands, the decision has to be taken by the center.