National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday urged leaders across political lines to join a peaceful protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, demanding that statehood for Jammu and Kashmir be restored.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13.

Among the leaders to whom Abdullah addressed the letter were Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Abdullah questioned why the Union government has offered “no timeline” for when statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir.

“This is not merely a delay,” he wrote. “It is an affront to the democratic will of an entire people.”

The National Conference chief remarked that what is at stake is “not merely the sentiment or the status of the people of Jammu and Kashmir alone”.

“The manner in which our State – once a constitutional entity with its own Assembly, its own government, its own identity – has been reduced and held in administrative subordination strikes at the very root of our federal polity,” Abdullah said.

On August 5, 2019, Article 370 of the Constitution – which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir – was abrogated and the erstwhile state was split into two Union Territories: Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Supreme Court, in December 2023, upheld the validity of the 2019 order abrogating Article 370 and ordered the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

In October, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be restored at an “appropriate time” after discussions are held with political stakeholders.

The home minister claimed that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has significantly improved since the abrogation of Article 370, stating that the Union Territory has taken a “complete U-turn”, highlighting that only one Indian resident had been recruited by terrorist groups over the past nine months.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read:

Ramachandra Guha: It is time for India to redeem its betrayed promises to Jammu and Kashmir