Marking the seventh year of the Centre’s August 5, 2019, move, Abdullah declared Wednesday that he had neither “forgotten” nor “accepted”. “My party & I remain committed to reversing all that was done to J&K that took away our rights & threatens our identity,” he said in a post on X, adding Robert Frost’s famous lines: “I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep.”
The statement marked a departure from the calibrated approach the National Conference (NC) leader has adopted since he led his party to power in October 2024, in the first elections held after the abrogation of Article 370. In the period after that, his government maintained a cooperative relationship with the Centre in the hope that statehood would follow and, crucially, did not press it on the intractable question of restoration of Article 370 and constitutional guarantees to J&K.
Participants carry a 200-metre Tricolour during a Tiranga Rally organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Forum (JKPF) in Reasi. (PTI)
Realisation seems to be dawning now that this strategy has produced little.
Promises, promises
Since Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act on August 5, 2019, the Centre’s position has been consistent: statehood will be restored at an “appropriate time”, repeated a number of times, but always without a timeline.
The first assurance came during the debate on the reorganisation Bill. Replying to concerns in Parliament in August 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said: “When normalcy returns… jab uchit samay aayega (when the right time arrives), it (J&K) will be given statehood again.”
In October 2019, Shah said J&K would not remain a UT forever, and statehood would return once the security situation normalised. In February 2021, he again assured Parliament that “full statehood” would be granted, at an “appropriate juncture”. Visiting J&K in October 2021, he laid out what he described as a roadmap – delimitation, Assembly elections and then restoration of statehood. In early 2022 and again in 2023, he reiterated that elections would precede restoration.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti during a protest demanding the restoration of J&K ‘s special status in Srinagar on Wednesday. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has given similar assurances. During a rally in J&K before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he spoke of restoring statehood and holding Assembly elections, but stopped short of specifying any timeline.
The same position has been taken before the Supreme Court. During hearings on the constitutional validity of the abrogation of Article 370, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has maintained that J&K’s UT status is temporary. However, to the Constitution Bench’s queries about a timeframe, the Centre has said it is unable to provide one, while assuring that it is “progressively proceeding” towards restoring full statehood.
After it came to power following the 2024 Assembly elections, one of the first acts of the Abdullah government was to pass a Cabinet resolution seeking restoration of statehood.
But, while it had committed to statehood after the J&K elections were held, the Centre is no closer to giving it.
In March 2025, Shah reiterated that the promise would be fulfilled, but added that “it can’t be disclosed when… at a public forum”. More recently, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said people would “soon hear about a decision”.
Omar’s gamble
The NC contested the 2024 Assembly elections promising to strive for restoration of Article 370, Article 35A and statehood, as existed before August 5, 2019. However, pragmatism prevailed and, in government, Abdullah recalibrated his priorities, making restoration of statehood the immediate objective. In a speech after the elections, he said: “I would like to believe the honourable Prime Minister who has committed to restoring statehood.”
However, there has been no reciprocal gesture from the Centre to meet the Abdullah government half-way. The Lieutenant Governor’s dominance over the administration continues, the notification of Transaction of Business Rules still hasn’t happened, and the bureaucracy’s powers are seen as dwarfing the elected government’s.
One hand tied behind his back, Abdullah is also under attack from political rivals, who accuse his government of failing to deliver even on routine governance promises even as it bends over backwards before the Centre.
Abdullah has only difficult choices now. He can return to quiet engagement with the Centre; or escalate public mobilisation around the statehood demand; or broaden his campaign by again foregrounding restoration of Article 370 and other constitutional guarantees alongside statehood.
But, the irony is, that given the Centre’s reluctance over statehood, the other demands are even more unlikely to be met.
]August 5, 2026
Valley-based parties held protests Wednesday to mark the abrogation of Article 370. Apart from Abdullah’s statement in Srinagar, NC MPs held a demonstration outside Parliament, and were joined by their INDIA bloc allies, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who led a demonstration, told The Indian Express: “It started with a very dark night on August 4 and that dark night continues.” The reference was to the mass detention of leaders across the political spectrum in the Valley ahead of the August 5, 2019, move by the Centre, including her.
In a post on X, People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone called August 5, 2019, a “brutal coup” against J&K. The day will be “held up with contempt and disdain by the people of J&K, for all times to come”, he wrote.
The BJP, in contrast, celebrated August 5 as ‘National Integration Day’, in Jammu. BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi spoke about “the positive changes” in the UT since 2019, listing infrastructure development, governance, and “stronger democratic institutions”.
—With Naveed Iqbal in Srinagar & Arun Sharma in Jammu
On the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah channelled American poet Robert Frost to convey his sentiments.
(File Photo: X@OmarAbdullah/Enhanced using AI) 
Participants carry a 200-metre Tricolour during a Tiranga Rally organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Forum (JKPF) in Reasi. (PTI)
PDP leader Iltija Mufti during a protest demanding the restoration of J&K ‘s special status in Srinagar on Wednesday. (PTI)
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