'Because BJP lost’: Omar Abdullah slams Centre over J&K, Ladakh statehood, says people being 'punished'

Amid violent protests in Ladakh demanding statehood, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said BJP was opposing statehood in J&K.Speaking to the media outside his office, Abdullah said that BJP was the only party opposing the restoration of statehood. "If there is opposition to restoring statehood, it is coming only from the BJP,” he said.The J&K chief minister said there is a growing impression in the Union Territory that the party ruling the center will not restore statehood because it lost last year's assembly elections."Sometimes it looks like people of Jammu and Kashmir will not get statehood because the BJP lost the elections. This is an injustice because nowhere was it said that statehood will be restored only if the BJP wins," he said. Abdullah also said his government, which has been in office for 11 months, faced a major challenge because Jammu and Kashmir is still not a state.The J&K CM further said that the promise made to the people of J&K was not fulfilled. He said, "The way the people were promised and the Supreme Court was informed, we expected it to be a three-step process: first delimitation, then elections, followed by restoration of statehood," the chief minister said. "The delimitation happened, elections were conducted and people enthusiastically participated in the polls. It was bad luck for the BJP that they did not win the polls, but people cannot be punished for that," he said.On Ladakh violenceAbdullah later tweeted that Ladakh had been betrayed and was angry. "Ladakh wasn’t even promised Statehood, they celebrated UT status in 2019 & they feel betrayed & angry. Now try to imagine how betrayed & disappointed we in J&K feel when the promise of statehood to J&K remains unfulfilled even though we have gone about demanding it democratically, peacefully & responsibly," he wrote.Parliament passed a resolution in August 2019 declaring the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. It also proposed bifurcation of the state into two Union territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.Last month, the Supreme Court said the “ground situation” in Jammu and Kashmir must be weighed before restoring its statehood, stressing that “incidents like Pahalgam” cannot be ignored. The top court also sought a response from the centre on a plea demanding the restoration of statehood to the region.