| News Details |
| J&K’s statehood mirage | |
K N Pandita
Facing discontent from ruling-party legislators and some valley-based MPs, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah employed a strategic off-site meeting to refocus internal unrest toward the Centre's delayed restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Transporting his lawmakers to the Dachhigam National Park for a marathon huddle, Abdullah successfully forged a unified resolution: all 42 legislators will stage a protest rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on the opening day of the Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament to demand statehood and constitutional guarantees.
The notable point is that the body of NC MLAs did not throw any hint of disowning the leadership of the chief minister, and secondly, the chief minister dispatched the yorker towards the Home Ministry’s midwicket. He answered the subdued complaint of alleged soft-paddling with the issue of the revival of statehood.
The meeting coincided with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti's letter to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, proposing a united front in Jammu and Kashmir to press Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for dialogue. However, Abdullah's National Conference (NC) chose not to collaborate with local rivals, opting instead to align with the fractured INDIA bloc for a proposed protest rally in New Delhi.
While the demand for the restoration of statehood is not new ---having gone through periodic dormant phases --- the NC-led government revives it whenever it feels challenged by its own aspiring legislators over its inactivity, only this time backing it with a nationwide propaganda spree.
During the opening day of the Monsoon Session, all 42 National Conference MLAs and valley Members of Parliament, supported by allied opposition representatives, intend to hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. They will accuse the Union government of deliberately stalling the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
In a press briefing, Tanvir Sadiq, chief spokesperson of NC, noted that the 7-hour marathon meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, also evaluated governance over the past 19 months. He added that the leaders discussed and devised strategies to tackle drug abuse, reservation policies, and developmental issues across the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region.
He strategically evaded the Union Home Ministry’s justifications for the 2019 Reorganization Act, as well as the National Conference's (NC) stance against it. Unpacking these contentious political dynamics would have exposed embarrassing fault lines for the NC. Consequently, the party's legislative apparatus treats the origins of the Reorganization Act as a closed chapter.
Mr. Sadiq said the NC leadership, during the meeting, highlighted the need “to intensify efforts for restoration of what was taken away from Jammu and Kashmir after the constitutional changes of 2019,” when the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories and the seven decades of special status was scrapped.
The revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's seven decades of special status was a necessary and long-overdue measure. It addressed how past state governments, particularly the National Conference, had utilized this autonomy to foster a separatist and sectarian political climate.
Government and party statements frequently highlight massive infrastructural changes --- including upgraded highways, extension of Jammu–Baramulla rail link, expanding tourism, and increasing investor interest.
Attended by all 42 NC legislators, the meeting also took stock of the NC-Congress relationship, which soured after the Omar Abdullah government came to power in 2024. The Congress decided against joining the government till Statehood is restored. This is a subtle aspersion on Omar Abdullah, the chief minister, for soft-paddling on the dynamics of restoration of statehood.
Coming to the brass-tacks, the crux of the Reorganization Act of 2019 has been countering NC’s separatist and sectarian proclivity, strengthening secularist democratic dispensation and development through mass involvement.
The NC chief spokesperson said in his press briefing that the lengthy meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, reviewed governance and regional development across Jammu, Kashmir, the Pir Panjal, and Chenab Valley. The party extensively discussed strategies to tackle the growing drug abuse and alcohol-related concerns, while also reviewing reservation policies, unemployment, and the regularization of daily wagers.
This encapsulates the gamut of issues addressed during the marathon meeting. Although matters concerning the Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley were debated alongside other J&K topics, the genocidal ethnic cleansing of nearly four lakh Kashmiri Hindus from their millennia-old homeland was conspicuously ignored, despite their ongoing plight of exile spanning more than thirty-five years.
The Chenab and Pir Panjal regions were traditionally discussed as part of Jammu province. However, their recent establishment as distinct political and administrative entities is viewed by some as an intentional creation based on their Muslim demographics. If such regional reorganization was desirable, why did the meeting not also discuss a dedicated homeland for Kashmiri Hindus?
We will closely observe how the Union government holds the protesting National Conference (NC) legislators and MPs accountable for their role in the discriminatory and inequitable treatment of the Hindu minority in the Kashmir valley. The displaced minority retains an inalienable right to a constitutionally guaranteed safe homeland within Kashmir. Furthermore, the Union Home Ministry bears the responsibility to address the nation on whether the original justifications for imposing Union Territory (UT) status on Jammu and Kashmir have been fully resolved, and if it is now genuinely safe to restore J&K's statehood.
Kashmir is nobody’s private fief. It belongs to the people of Kashmir and the Hindus, though a minority, are the integral part of the people of Kashmir. The restoration of statehood must be preceded by a firm commitment by Kashmir leadership of a constitutionally guaranteed safe homeland within Kashmir for the Hindu minority.
(Shri K.N. Pandita is the former Director of the Centre for Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University)
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