Original (en)

Srinagar, May 06: It is deeply unfair to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the promise of statehood is not being kept, says Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah while going on to ask if they are being punished for not electing a BJP chief minister. "If that is the case, the BJP should have stood up in Parliament or told the Supreme Court that till a BJP chief minister sits in Jammu and Kashmir, you will not get statehood… Then I would have believed that these people are telling the truth,” Abdullah, who was elected to power nearly 20 months ago, told PTI. Expressing acute disappointment over the Centre’s delay in restoring statehood, the National Conference leader said it amounted to deceit and a breach of promise "Of course it is disappointing. We are well past the point of early. Early would have been soon after the elections. We are, as you said, 20 months into the government. It's no longer early. It has been needlessly delayed. And the sad fact is nobody is able to explain why. You hear every time that Jammu and Kashmir statehood will be restored at the appropriate time. But nobody tells us when the appropriate time is.” Though he continues to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, there is no clear indication of what Jammu and Kashmir must do to satisfy the Centre's "appropriate time" criteria, leaving the issue of statehood restoration in limbo, Abdullah said. "What is the yardstick to measure appropriate time? At least if we knew what the appropriate time would be, how to measure it, we would work towards it... So we are chipping away. We keep the demand alive. We keep talking about it. But I think it's deeply unfair to the people of J&K that this promise is not being kept," the chief minister said. He said the Centre had repeatedly outlined a three-step roadmap for Jammu and Kashmir -- delimitation, elections and statehood. The first two steps are done and his government will complete tw