Wrote to parties to push for Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood in Parliament: Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on 6 August, Wednesday, has said he has written to several parties with a sizeable presence in Parliament to seek their support for the introduction of a bill for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood in the ongoing Monsoon session.

The Centre abrogated Article 370, which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 5 August 2019, and divided it into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

"I have written a letter to all those parties who have a good number of MPs in Parliament and requested them to help on the promise made to Jammu and Kashmir on statehood and raise the issue in Parliament so that a bill is brought in this session itself and Jammu and Kashmir gets its statehood back," Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar.

He said the issue was not of an individual or a party, or even a government, "it is about the promise made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir".

"The promise was made in public rallies, in the Supreme Court and Parliament. We want the promise to be fulfilled," he added.

On the Supreme Court being likely to hear a plea for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood on 8 August, Abdullah said the restoration should come through the court if the government does not do it.

"It is a good thing and I hope the Supreme Court keeps in mind is that when they gave a judgement on the 5 August case (in December 2023), they had said that the statehood should be restored as soon as possible.

"Now, many years have passed but we have not got it yet," he said.

He said had the Supreme Court not set a deadline for conducting assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, "perhaps I would not have been talking to you as the chief minister today".

"The elections were held because the SC had set a deadline and the elections were held in that time frame. We want that much time has passed now and if it (restoration of statehood) does not come through the government, then it should come through the court," he said.

The CM's outreach comes amidst a growing demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood. His push is a renewed effort to hold the Centre accountable for its commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

On 29 July, Abdullah wrote a letter to the presidents of 42 political parties, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, urging them to press the Centre to bring a legislation in the Monsoon session to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it must not be viewed as a concession, but as an essential course correction.

He wrote that downgrading a state to a union territory sets a "profound and unsettling" precedent and is a "Constitutional red line" that "must never be crossed".

"The act of reducing Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a union territory in 2019 and the prolonged delay in restoring its status as a full state... has profound implications for the future of Indian polity," the three-page letter stated.

The chief minister said the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into a union territory in August 2019 was presented as a "temporary and transitional measure" and cited repeated public assurances from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including a promise made in Kashmir earlier this year that he called "Modi ka wada".

Abdullah also cited the stand of the Centre before the Supreme Court reaffirming its commitment to restore statehood at the earliest.

However, he said, the "interpretation of terms like 'at the earliest' or 'as soon as possible' cannot stretch into years or decades".

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir have already waited long enough — statehood must be restored now."

He called the "prolonged and unprecedented disempowerment" of the people of Jammu and Kashmir "unjust" and said it "undermines the very rationale that was invoked to justify the changes of August 2019".

"The restoration (of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir) must not be viewed as a concession, but as an essential course correction — one that prevents us from sliding down a dangerous and slippery slope where the statehood of our constituent states is no longer regarded as a foundational and sacred constitutional right but reduced instead to a discretionary favour bestowed at the will of the central government," the letter said.

"More than nine months have passed and yet there is no clarity, timeline, or visible progress toward fulfilling that solemn assurance," Abdullah lamented.

The chief minister's letter warned that the "temporary" status is beginning to "appear more as a convenient alibi than a genuine commitment", serving as a "proverbial fig leaf" for an "indefensible act".

He said that the six-year persistence of this status is "far beyond what any reasonable interpretation of the word might allow" and that an arrangement "meant to be transitional cannot be allowed to harden into permanence".

Abdullah pointed to two recent events as "extraordinary opportunities to heal historical wounds and reinforce national unity" — the high voter turnout in the recent elections and the public condemnation of terrorism following the Pahalgam attack.

"To allow such moments to pass — unacknowledged or unreciprocated due to narrow partisan calculations, will, without doubt, be a monumental mistake," the chief minister cautioned, and quoted famous poet Muzaffar Razmi Kairanavi: "Lamhon ne khata ki thi, sadiyon ne saza payi (,oments committed the mistake, centuries got the punishment)".

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Abdullah expressed hope that after the incident-free and successful Amarnath Yatra, Jammu and Kashmir will witness an increase in tourist footfall.

"The numbers are increasing. The situation has not remained like how it was after the 22 April (Pahalgam) attack. We had a good yatra as well, about 4 lakh yatris undertook the yatra through Baltal and Pahalgam, and the situation remained good during the yatra.

"We now hope that the tourists will start coming from different corners of the country and benefit from the hospitality of the people of J&K," he said.