The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on 28 September passed a resolution seeking urgent restoration of full statehood, amid a walkout by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), news agency PTI reported from Srinagar.
The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah last Friday. However, it was deferred as several members wanted to speak over the issue.
The opposition BJP protested against the resolution on Friday and Monday, with party members jumping into the well of the House, tearing up business papers, and conducting mock proceedings.
“In addition to the resolutions passed by this House on 26 June 2000 and 6 November, 2024, the House calls upon the Government of India for the immediate and urgent restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and resolves that this resolution be forwarded to the Government of India,” the resolution read.
The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government has promised to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, Chief Minister Abdullah questioned the Centre’s position that statehood would be restored only after the “guns fall silent”, saying this effectively leaves the decision in Pakistan’s hands. Citing the Pulwama attack and decades of violence in the region, Abdullah said Pakistan’s involvement in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir was well known.
“Pakistan carried out the Pulwama attack. Pakistan has fueled militancy here for 35 years. So when you say that statehood will be restored only when the guns fall silent, you are leaving the decision with Pakistan as to when those guns will fall silent. And when Pakistan silences those guns, you will then restore our statehood,” Abdullah is heard saying in a video from assembly proceedings.
The National Conference-led government headed by Farooq Abdullah passed a resolution on June 26, 2000, for the restoration of the greater autonomy that existed before August 9, 1953.
On November 6, 2024, the House passed a resolution seeking the restoration of special status.
Passed through voice vote
Several members, including those from the ruling National Conference (NC), had moved amendments to the resolution, with many seeking to have it also demand the restoration of special status.
However, during the debate, the chief minister urged the members to withdraw their amendments, saying, “they had got trapped in this scheme (of the BJP) and moved amendments”.
“This House has already passed resolutions twice for special status – one in (former CM) Farooq Abdullah’s time, and the other in 2024, soon after the formation of this government. Special status is a provision that other states do not have. We have asked the Centre to restore the special provisions which we had before 2019. So, I request my colleagues not to press the amendments which will give the BJP an excuse to oppose it,” Abdullah said.
Following the CM’s appeal, the Speaker asked the members whether they intended not to press the amendments, to which all eight MLAs agreed. The Speaker then put the resolution to a vote, even as BJP members continued with their protest.
The resolution was passed through a voice vote amid a walkout by the BJP.
When you say that statehood will be restored only when the guns fall silent, you are leaving the decision with Pakistan as to when those guns will fall silent.
The BJP said the reference to autonomy and special status in the resolution was an insult to the Constitution, and it would not allow a discussion on it or its passage in the House.
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