Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the delay in restoring statehood, calling it “unfair” to the people of the Union Territory.
Addressing reporters, Abdullah alleged that the BJP has been opposing the restoration of statehood since losing elections in the region. “People participated in the election process. It is BJP’s bad luck that they couldn’t win. However, the people here cannot be punished for that. It seems statehood is not being restored because BJP didn’t form the government. That is unfair,” he said.
Highlighting the unfulfilled promise of statehood, Abdullah pointed out that while the Supreme Court had been informed of a three-step process—delimitation, elections, and statehood—only delimitation and elections have taken place. “The biggest challenge is that we are not a state anymore. We were hoping for tourism to revive, especially during the Pooja season, but that is not happening,” he added.
On the controversy surrounding arrests over the ‘I Love Muhammad’ slogan, Abdullah questioned the rationale behind the cases, saying, “How is it illegal to write ‘I Love Muhammad’? People of other religions write about their gods. If that is not illegal, how is this?”
The demand for restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood has been ongoing since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which bifurcated the former state into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without a legislature).
The Supreme Court recently heard a plea seeking directions to the Centre for restoring statehood, noting that ground realities in Jammu and Kashmir, including events in Pahalgam, must be considered.