J&K statehood: Time to act on promise

The Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, has made a welcome call for the restoration of full statehood to the union territory which it lost with the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019. Sinha’s call was part of the L-G’s customary address to the Assembly and so, it reflects the newly sworn-in National Conference Government’s position. The state cabinet had passed a resolution seeking statehood for the UT. Sinha also said his government would make efforts for the restoration of constitutional guarantees available to the state. Though he spoke for the UT government, being the L-G, he also represents the Central government. The Centre has, in the past, given assurances that statehood would be restored, though it did not mention a timeline for it. It had also given this assurance to the Supreme Court when the court was considering the legality of the reorganisation of J&K.

The high voter participation in both the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections showed that the people had faith in the democratic process and institutions and wanted to be a part of the process of governance. The government needs to respond to the trust shown by the people and restore statehood for the UT at the earliest. This is necessary to ensure that the government’s credibility does not suffer both inside J&K and outside. The change in the status of Kashmir did create apprehensions in other states too. No state had till then imagined the possibility of their status being altered. The need for dividing J&K and creating two UTs had been questioned even when Article 370 was scrapped. There is no justification for it now, and the L-G’s promise should be acted upon.

The Assembly has passed a resolution that “reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of J&K, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal.” It has called upon the Central government “to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of the people of J&K for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions.” There is a stand-off in the Assembly between the ruling party members and the Opposition BJP over the issue. The resolution did not mention Article 370, but only constitutional guarantees, which Sinha had also mentioned. It is known that there is still opposition to the scrapping of Article 370 within Kashmir. There are also reservations outside Kashmir about the way it was implemented. This is the first time Kashmir has elected representatives after 2019 and it is necessary that the Centre talks to them, and the government, over their concerns and demands.