Kharge, Rahul Gandhi urge Modi to legislate for restoration of J&K’s statehood
Kharge, Rahul Gandhi urge Modi to legislate for restoration of J&K’s statehood
M.U.H
16/07/202534
Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday wrote a letter urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce legislation during Parliament’s monsoon session, commencing next week, for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s statehood. They sought the inclusion of Ladakh in the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule, which provides for the administration of tribal areas through autonomous councils with legislative, executive, judicial, and financial powers, and a degree of self-governance.
“We urge the government to introduce legislation in the Monsoon Session to grant full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and extend Sixth Schedule protections to Ladakh. This would address the cultural, developmental, and political aspirations of Ladakh’s people while safeguarding their land and identity,” said the leaders of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in the letter, a copy of which HT has seen.
“For five years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have consistently demanded restoration of full statehood. This demand is legitimate and rooted in their constitutional and democratic rights.” The two cited instances of Union Territories being upgraded to states. They added that J&K’s case is without precedent as a state was downgraded to a Union territory post-bifurcation for the first time.
Kharge and Gandhi reminded Modi of his public commitments to restore statehood. “...on May 19, 2024, you said, ‘Restoring statehood is a solemn promise we have made.’ Again, in Srinagar on September 19, 2024, you said, ‘We have said in Parliament that we will restore the region’s statehood,” they wrote.
J&K was stripped of its semi-autonomous status in 2019 and divided into two Union territories. The Supreme Court upheld the change in J&K’s constitutional status in December 2023 but directed the government to restore statehood “as soon as possible”.
Restoration of statehood was a key electoral plank of chief minister Omar Abdullah’s National Conference, which was voted to power following the first elections in J&K since the end of its autonomous status and division. In October 2024, Abdullah’s Cabinet passed a resolution demanding the restoration of full statehood to J&K.
In June, Abdullah expressed his willingness to resign and dissolve the assembly if it would facilitate statehood. “The day the Government of India restores statehood to J&K, I will, the very next day, ask the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the Assembly. Don’t try to intimidate us. Statehood is our right, and we demand it,” he said, accusing the Union government of using election rumours to scare lawmakers.
On July 14, Abdullah climbed a wall at Srinagar’s Martyrs’ Graveyard when the administration allegedly barred him and his supporters from entering it to pay tributes to 21 Kashmiris killed during an uprising in 1931 against the then J&K ruler Hari Singh. Abdullah slammed the “tyranny of the unelected”. “To put it in terms you will all understand today, the unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K,” he said in a post on X.
