JKNPP tonsure heads to protest bifurcation of J-K

Some JKNPP leaders on Friday tonsured their heads to protest the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories and demanded statehood for Jammu. J-K on Thursday transitioned from a state into UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, nearly three months after Parliament abrogated the its special status.

The protesting Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) members were led by party president Balwant Singh Mankotia. "UT is not acceptable to us. We are holding protest against this decision. We demand Jammu be made a separate state", Mankotia, who also shaved his head, told reporters.

The JKNPP has begun a 'satyagraha movement' in the Jammu region for a separate state, he said, adding that the party will hold demonstrations and public meetings across the Jammu division. The leaders, who had assembled in front of a statue of erstwhile ruler of J-K Maharaja Hari Singh, also took a pledge to fight for Jammu's statehood.

Makotia said after waiting for 72 years to get out of the Kashmir hegemony, the people of the Jammu have once again been betrayed by the BJP government as it has not given the province full statehood.

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