State of anticipation: on Jammu and Kashmir and Statehood

In a resolution passed on September 28, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly called upon the Government of India for the “immediate and urgent restoration of full Statehood” to the nearly seven-year-old Union Territory (UT). The erstwhile State of J&K was downgraded and carved out into two UTs in 2019 when the Centre decided to end the region’s close to 70 years of special constitutional status. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah moved the resolution with a reminder of the past resolutions adopted by the Assembly over the demand of special status. It mentioned the greater autonomy resolution of June 26, 2000, and the special status resolution of November 6, 2024. Other than the 29 BJP legislators, the members of the 90-member House broadly supported the resolution after an intense and high-pitched debate on Statehood and special status. It was a rare bid by Mr. Abdullah on Statehood since he won the election two years ago. Both the ruling alliance parties, the Congress, CPI(M) and Independents, as well as the Opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party, J&K Peoples Conference, Aam Aadmi Party and Awami Ittehad Party extended their support to the demand. The Centre itself laid down a three-step path for the restoration of Statehood: delimitation, election and Statehood. The Supreme Court of India had sought the restoration of Statehood “as soon as possible”, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised the same “at the appropriate time”, both in Parliament and outside it. Still, the wait has been too long for not only the people of J&K, but for all those who value democracy and federalism.

Ideological positions aside, the downgrading of J&K from a full-fledged functional State to a UT was unprecedented and unhealthy. No doubt, J&K went through three decades of tumultuous times, as militant violence and deaths became the order of the day. However, the 2024 elections were an unprecedented departure from the past. Voters in Kashmir shunned boycott politics and J&K recorded 63.88% voting. It was the most peaceful election with not a bullet fired, a first in the past three decades, The Centre should have reciprocated the people’s faith in the democratic set-up by empowering the legislature they voted for. The first step in that direction is the restoration of Statehood. The scarred and painful past of J&K needs healing. It is high time that the Court’s direction on Statehood be respected and implemented without delay. An empowered legislature rather than the streets, should become the space for conversation with the Centre on J&K. J&K should not be allowed to drift away from the federal and democratic process in India. To predicate restoration of Statehood on the end of militancy is, as Mr. Abdullah indicated, equivalent to giving Pakistan and its strategy of state-sponsored terrorism a say in the matter.