J&K: Youth Congress protests against Centre over more powers to L-G ahead of assembly polls

Jammu: Youth Congress here on Saturday staged a protest against the BJP-led central government over its decision to grant more powers to the Lt Governor ahead of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Chanting slogans against the BJP, the youth activists led by incharge of Pradesh Youth Congress Maan Singh Rathore assembled at Maharaja Hari Singh Park in the heart of the city and tried to take out a march to protest against growing terror activities in the region.

However, they were stopped by police and dozens of them were later detained and whisked away in a police bus.

"We are holding this protest for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. You might have seen an order of the Home ministry, granting more powers to the Lt Governor ahead of the supreme court-set deadline for holding of assembly elections before September 30 in the Union Territory. They want to turn J-K into Delhi where the LG is virtually running the government instead of the chief minister," Rathore said.

The actions of BJP shows that it does not want to restore statehood to J&K, he said, appealing to the people to join protests against granting more powers to LG and restoration of full statehood.

He said the protest is also on the roads over the growing terror incidents, which contradicts BJP's claim of normalcy in the UT.

"The attacks depict the complete failure of this government. The government should answer about frequent casualties happening in Jammu and Kashmir," the Congress leader said.