'Only if…': Mehbooba Mufti gives conditional nod to NC's J&K statehood protest invite in Delhi

Mehbooba Mufti (File photo/PTI)

NEW DELHI: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday agreed to join rival National Conference’s (NC) July 20 protest in Delhi seeking statehood for Jammu and Kashmir but on the condition that the agenda also includes other key issues.Mufti demanded that the protest also cover issues such as the restoration of Article 370, release of political prisoners and lifting of the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami.“After careful consideration and deliberations with my senior colleagues, I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fit for us to participate in a protest whose raison d’etre is solely and exclusively the demand for statehood,” she posted on X while sharing a screenshot of her letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah.“Protesting in unison solely for statehood would only legitimise and sanitise the illegal act of revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and could be viewed as a direct endorsement of August 5, the darkest day in our collective history,” the former chief minister wrote in the two-page letter.Farooq Abdullah has invited leaders from across Jammu and Kashmir’s political spectrum to join the NC-led protest at Jantar Mantar on July 20, the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament, to press for the restoration of statehood.On August 5, 2019, months after returning to power for a second consecutive term, the Narendra Modi government revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. In October that year, the Centre bifurcated the state into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.The move brought both regions under the direct administration of the Centre, unlike a full-fledged state, which is governed by its own elected government.Meanwhile, Mufti, who was Jammu and Kashmir’s last chief minister when it was a state, argued that it would be “a grave injustice, a disservice, and a sheer betrayal” to reduce the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the “petty, myopic, short-sighted, and detrimental demand for statehood alone”.“Demanding anything short of it (special status) would amount to a shameful surrender of our rights and dignity, an unforgivable footnote that will condemn each one of us in the annals of Jammu and Kashmir’s history,” she remarked.She further maintained that the overwhelming mandate given by the people to the NC was not merely to help restore statehood.“Had that been the case, the BJP and its proxies would have enjoyed far greater electoral success,” she added.In October 2024, the NC won Jammu and Kashmir’s first assembly elections as a Union territory, with Farooq Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah becoming chief minister.Mufti also pointed out that there had been no response to her earlier initiative for an all-party front on the lines of the Ladakh movement, but reiterated her appeal to Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah to take the lead in the effort.“The first step, perhaps, could be to convene an all-party meeting, including representatives from sections of civil society, to discuss and seek redressal of the host of issues that are currently disempowering and dehumanising the people of Jammu and Kashmir. An honest and meaningful political process can only begin by addressing fundamental issues, including calling for the release of political prisoners and seeking the revocation of the ban on socio-political organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami,” she wrote.The former chief minister stressed that even the restoration of statehood cannot be treated as a one-time event.“It requires sustained political effort and engagement, which Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should initiate. Such an effort would give our deeply disillusioned people a much-needed ray of hope that there is, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel,” she added.