Six years on, statehood not even on the horizon for J&K

Six years after the BJP-led Union government unilaterally abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgraded and divided the erstwhile state into two Union Territories (UTs), it still appears unwilling to fulfil its promise of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir “at an appropriate time”.

Even the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 August, is silent on the question of statehood. It mainly aligns the 2019 J&K Reorganisation Act with the simultaneously tabled Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth) Amendment Bill, a whole new political firestorm.

Many now fear that the Supreme Court’s recent remarks have further weakened hopes of J&K regaining statehood in the near future. On 14 August, during the hearing of a petition seeking directions to the Union government to fulfil its promise, Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, who headed the bench, urged the petitioners to consider “ground realities” like the “Pahalgam attack”.

The court’s remarks have left mainstream political parties, especially the ruling National Conference (NC) deeply disappointed. Several of them have sharply criticised the observation.

The Centre’s unwillingness to restore statehood has put the ruling NC in a strange bind: on the one hand, its government is grappling with its own sense of powerlessness; on the other, it faces criticism for boasting that it would not only ensure the restoration of statehood but also work towards restoring the abrogated Article 370, once in power. It no longer speaks about Article 370.

Political observers argue that the NC’s dilemma stems less from external pressures and more from its own strategic missteps. Speaking to National Herald, veteran journalist and political commentator Arun Joshi said, “The NC is struggling because it has not been able to devise any strategy to win back statehood. It has created the impression that statehood alone will enable it to govern. This is self-defeating.”

Joshi added, “The restoration of special status is impossible not because the BJP is in power but because the mood of the nation is against it. The political parties in the country are scared.”

Chief minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement of launching a signature campaign across all 90 assembly segments in Jammu and Kashmir to build the case for the restoration of statehood has drawn sharp criticism from his political opponents. The announcement was made during his Independence Day speech at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar on 15 August, a day after the CJI’s remark.

Analysts say such symbolic measures may backfire, exposing the party’s limitations rather than strengthening its case. Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, a prominent political analyst and former head of the political science department at Kashmir University, told National Herald: “I doubt that a largescale signature campaign will achieve much or improve the ruling party’s public image — on the contrary, it risks reinforcing the perception of its powerlessness and desperation.”

Scepticism also runs deep among common citizens, with many terming the proposed campaign a political gimmick. “If the goal is to show people’s demand for statehood, why go door to door for signatures? Why can’t the ruling NC, which has more than 50 elected members in the 90-member Assembly, simply pass a resolution to reflect the will of the people?

"After all, it has the public mandate, and anything it declares in the Assembly carries the weight of public will. The truth is, the Abdullahs are trying to please both the people of J&K and the BJP leadership in Delhi,” says Ali Mohammad Wani, a resident of Srinagar’s old city.

Wani went on to add, “We have seen how these so-called mainstream parties like the NC and PDP behaved when they were in power, back when Jammu and Kashmir had statehood. These parties and their leaders even justified the killing of innocent children during their rule. Hundreds of people were killed at the time. Since J&K became a Union Territory, no such deaths have taken place. That is a fact we must acknowledge — the truth must always be told.”

Editor and analyst Tahir Mohiuddin believes that common people are least bothered about the restoration of statehood to J&K. “Statehood is a demand raised by political parties, especially the ruling party. People don’t give a damn about this demand. What they want is good and effective governance, real development and attention to pressing issues such as unemployment, inflation and other concerns — all of which the government has completely failed to address.”

Arun Joshi disagrees with this line of argument. “For the people of Kashmir Valley, statehood is like a miniature of special status. They are concerned about their cultural, ethnic and religious identity. Somewhere along the line, they accepted the change in the terms of ‘normalcy’, but their struggle for identify cannot be ignored. It is a simmering pot.”

Over the past few months, the debate over statehood has grown sharper, and the rift between the lieutenant-governor (LG) and the Omar Abdullah-led elected government has widened. The LG here wields significant executive authority, more than his counterparts in Delhi or Puducherry.

Months ahead of last year’s Assembly elections in J&K, the Union home ministry (MHA) had expanded the LG’s administrative role while curbing the powers of the incoming government. On 13 July 2024, amendments to the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 expanded the LG’s control over policing, oversight of all-India services such as the IAS and IPS and sanctioning prosecutions in various cases.

“The lack of effective authority is undermining the ruling NC, as it has largely failed to meet public expectations. This is why it is pressing hard for the restoration of statehood,” says Prof. Noor Baba. The frustration was manifest in the recent outburst of former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who described the LG as New Delhi’s ‘viceroy’ in the Union Territory. “[We have a] viceroy sitting here in the Raj Bhawan. There is a government, but the viceroy is the main man. The time has come for this to change. It is a democratic country.”

However, keen Kashmir watchers like Prof. Baba don’t see change on the horizon. “By delaying the restoration of statehood, the BJP government in Delhi seeks to retain power in the region. It wants direct control in matters of law and order and security. At the same time, by not restoring statehood, it renders the elected government practically powerless,” he says.

In December 2023, the Supreme Court had directed the government to restore statehood “at the earliest”. In the absence of a binding timeline, the Centre can delay this — and predictably has.

Both PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah have gone on record saying statehood will be restored at an “appropriate time”. But, given its limited success in the 2024 Assembly elections — especially in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley — the idea of restoring statehood to J&K can’t be very appealing to the BJP.