J&K's statehood will be restored, local businesses and industries will be protected, assures Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday promised that his party would strive to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and protect the interests of its people and local businesses.

Addressing a rally in Jammu, as the state went in for the second phase of the Assembly elections, Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said: "This election is to empower you and this is the beginning of your statehood, your local industry will be protected, banks will open up for your support and for local industries.

He said big business groups could invest in the state "but you will have your place for small, medium industries and entrepreneurs".

Slamming the Centre over making J&K a Union Territory post the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, he said in the history of India, states were divided to create other states, but never was a state downgraded into a Union Territory.

"Your democratic right has been snatched from you. Today J&K is ruled by outsiders. We wanted you to get your rights before the election... You were not given statehood before the election, but we want your statehood restored very soon. No state has ever been deprived of its rights in India except J&K. I guarantee if the BJP does not give you statehood, the INDIA bloc will use all its power in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and if the BJP does not agree, then we will get you statehood through INDIA bloc which is coming to power soon," he said.

Seeking to reach out to the people of Jammu, he said that "Jammu is the hub for the businesses and production of Kashmir to get connected with other states" but accused the BJP of having destroyed small and medium industries and entrepreneurs.

"Centre and Lt Governor have broken their backbone. You might do anything... unless J&K’s small and medium businesses do not stand on their own legs, employment will not happen. As long as the Lt Governor is there, all contracts will go to outsiders..." he alleged.

Gandhi cited a woman telling him that she wanted to start a small business, and the government said she would get a grant, "which did not come".

"Her mother died and her father supported her, but her business could not take off. She said she now knows no small business can come up in J&K. She now wants to join administration or IT (sector), but how many of our youth can do that? One per cent, 2 per cent or 5 per cent. Then what happens to 95 per cent of our unemployed youth?"

Attacking the government on the "faulty" GST, the Congress leader cited the case of a restaurant owner telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, how he has to pay GST on selling a bun, a second GST for adding cream and if he sells the two things separately, he has to pay the third GST.

He also asserted that his party will fulfil promises made to Kashmiri Pandits by former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, as well as the promise of a financial package to refugees from Pakistan.

In a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his comments during the recent Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi stressed he was human only. "We are human beings like you and my connection is with you. I will always carry out your orders," he said, appealing to voters to elect Congress candidates in the third and final phase of J&K polls scheduled on October 1.

The final phase of the polls will cover 40 seats in the Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur districts of the Jammu region, and the Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara districts of the Kashmir Valley.