Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, July 10

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Friday that his National Conference (NC) was still awaiting permission from authorities in New Delhi to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar later this month, as the party steps up its campaign for the restoration of statehood nearly seven years after the former state’s special constitutional status was revoked.

The proposed sit-in, scheduled for July 20 to coincide with the opening day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, has emerged as the NC’s most significant political mobilisation since it returned to power in Jammu and Kashmir last year. The party says the demonstration is aimed at pressing the federal government to honour repeated assurances that statehood would be restored to the Himalayan region.

“We are trying to get the permission,” Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar, saying the application had been submitted several days ago but approval was still pending.

Without naming any individual or organisation, the chief minister alleged that attempts were being made to disrupt the programme by creating scheduling conflicts.

“We have been trying for four or five days. Some people are engaged in sabotaging our programme. They have changed their dates and matched them with our dates,” he said.

Abdullah contrasted the delay in securing permission with what he described as the swift clearance granted to another organisation’s event, saying that protest had reportedly received approval within 24 hours while the NC had been waiting for several days.

The demonstration forms part of the party’s broader campaign to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, which was withdrawn in August 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the former state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The constitutional changes represented one of the most consequential political decisions in the region’s recent history, ending decades of special status that had granted Jammu and Kashmir its own constitution and substantial legislative autonomy.

Although the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision in December 2023, it also noted the government’s commitment that statehood would be restored “at the earliest”. The federal government has since reiterated, both in Parliament and before the court, that statehood would be reinstated after the democratic process is fully completed, without specifying a timeline.

The National Conference has sought to portray the July 20 protest as a campaign that transcends party politics, arguing that the restoration of statehood is a constitutional and democratic issue affecting all residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

In an effort to broaden support, the party has invited leaders from across India’s political spectrum, including senior figures from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (UBT), Aam Aadmi Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, AIMIM, Shiromani Akali Dal and several regional parties.

The invitations also extend to political rivals within Jammu and Kashmir, including Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad, People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Sat Sharma, CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami, Awami Ittehad Party leader and Member of Parliament Engineer Rashid, Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam.

The outreach reflects the NC’s attempt to build a broader political consensus around the demand for statehood despite deep ideological divisions among the invited parties.

The planned protest follows a meeting convened by the National Conference in Srinagar earlier this week, where more than 150 representatives from civil society organisations adopted a resolution urging the federal government to restore statehood without further delay.

For the ruling party, the issue has become central to its political messaging since assuming office. The NC has repeatedly argued that an elected government operating under Union Territory status lacks the constitutional authority and administrative powers available to a full-fledged state, affecting governance and decision-making.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has dismissed the planned protest as political theatre.

Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Sunil Sharma said earlier that his party would boycott the demonstration, arguing that statehood could only be restored through Parliament rather than public protests.

The BJP has instead announced plans for a separate campaign against the Omar Abdullah government’s employment outsourcing policy, accusing the administration of attempting to divert attention from governance issues by focusing on the statehood debate.

The competing narratives underscore the increasingly polarised politics surrounding Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional future, with statehood emerging as one of the defining issues ahead of the next phase of political engagement between Srinagar and New Delhi.

While the Centre has maintained that restoration remains a commitment, the absence of a definitive timeline continues to fuel political pressure from regional parties, which argue that democratic normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be complete without the return of full statehood.