JKNC workers protested near Srinagar’s BJP office demanding statehood restoration.
Police and protesters faced off amid heavy security around the venue.
BJP separately protested against unemployment, tariff hikes and alleged corruption.
National Conference leaders and workers held a protest near the BJP office in Srinagar on Wednesday, stepping up their demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
JKNC workers came face to face with police personnel during the demonstration as heavy security was deployed around the BJP office, ANI reported.
The protest continued the party’s campaign against the constitutional and administrative changes introduced after the abrogation of Article 370. Earlier this month, on the anniversary of its revocation, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the National Conference remained committed to reversing changes that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special rights and threatened its distinct identity.
In August 2019, the Narendra Modi-led Central government abrogated Article 370, ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status. The erstwhile state was subsequently bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Abdullah had also staged a protest in New Delhi in July, demanding the restoration of statehood.
The JKNC demonstration coincided with a separate BJP protest at Ghanta Ghar in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. BJP leaders and workers protested against the Omar Abdullah government over unemployment, rising prices, delays in Panchayat elections and alleged corruption.
The party planned to march towards the Civil Secretariat and gherao the building, prompting a heavy security deployment along the route from Lal Chowk.
BJP leader Altaf Thakur told ANI, “BJP is protesting on issues of unemployment, corruption and Panchayat elections. We will start from Ghanta Ghar, Lal Chowk, and go to the Secretariat to gherao it.”
The BJP has also targeted the government over the recent increase in electricity tariffs. Abdullah, however, has maintained that the decision was taken out of compulsion.
On Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Sunil Kumar Sharma criticised the National Conference for scheduling its protest on the same day. He claimed that the BJP had announced its demonstration a month earlier.
“The BJP decided to hold a protest to raise issues concerning the common people of Jammu & Kashmir—a decision announced a month ago. The primary focus of this protest is jobs for the youth. Meanwhile, the National Conference has suddenly decided today that it, too, will stage a protest. Just look at their timing. Look at how serious they are about the youth. They had sold off 25,000 jobs to contractors,” Sharma said.
“All in all, the National Conference's announcement to lay siege to BJP offices is yet another mockery of the very youth whose issues the BJP is highlighting in tomorrow's protest. I do not think this party is serious about the youth; this move is merely an attempt to cover up their past mistakes,” he added.
(Inputs from Agencies)
