J&K statehood protest at Jantar Mantar: Sajad Lone hits out at National Conference

J&K Peoples Conference President and MLA for Handwara, Sajad Lone, launched a pointed attack on the National Conference on Friday. He questioned both the timing and the true motives behind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s call for a sit-in at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand the restoration of statehood. Lone emphasized that the pre-August 5, 2019, status of Jammu and Kashmir—specifically Article 370, Article 35A, and full statehood—remains paramount, with Article 370 being the most critical of the three.

He argued that the protest might not actually be about statehood at all, but rather a quiet attempt to bury the demands for Article 370 and 35A. He noted that these issues fall under Parliament’s jurisdiction rather than the assembly’s, and claimed that opposition parties had failed to honor promises of support made during the election campaign. Drawing a historical parallel to 1975, he described the current situation as a repeat of a pattern where constitutional safeguards were traded for political power.

Lone’s core argument centered on the belief that major democratic decisions require consensus, not unilateral street protests. He recalled that in early August 2019, Farooq and Omar Abdullah traveled to Delhi without consulting other parties. The following day, a photograph of them with the Prime Minister emerged alongside assurances that “nothing was going to change”—assurances that were rendered void within 48 hours when Article 370 was revoked.

He noted that to this day, the details of that meeting remain unknown. Despite the public warmth shown toward the central leadership since that time, Lone argued that the National Conference has never once publicly confronted them for having been misled.

Regarding the present, Lone stated that while the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly may have lost its former powers, it has not lost its representative character; it remains the constitutional voice of the people. On that basis, he called it unacceptable that no statehood resolution has been passed in nearly two years. He added that his own attempts to move such a resolution were blocked by the Speaker on the grounds that the matter was sub judice.

He cited an amendment he moved on February 3, 2025, during the Governor’s address, which sought to demand the return of Article 370, 35A, and statehood. He claimed this was rejected by a voice vote, with every NC member voting against it alongside BJP leaders—a development that he said went almost entirely unreported.

Lone’s central demand is for the government to call an emergency session of the Assembly to pass a statehood resolution and then send an all-party delegation—without “theatrics”—to meet the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition.

He argued that Jantar Mantar should only be considered as a last resort, at which point his party would be willing to join. He warned that bypassing the assembly and taking the issue directly to Delhi would reduce the statehood question to a mere fight between the BJP and the opposition at the national level, stripping the people of Jammu and Kashmir of any real role in their own cause.

Lone was equally critical of the Chief Minister’s conduct in the run-up to the protest. He noted that in the days after announcing the protest, Omar Abdullah met with the Defence Minister, several other Union ministers, and eventually the Prime Minister.

“Abdullah claimed to have raised the issue of statehood in those meetings,” Lone said. He argued that if the Prime Minister, whom he described as the final authority on statehood, had rejected the demand, the government owed the public a straight answer rather than proceeding to Jantar Mantar without clarifying what was actually discussed.

He accused the National Conference of inconsistency, recalling how the party rushed to present shawls to central leaders even before final election results were declared and later sent flowers to the Union Home Minister following Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in West Bengal, all while invoking anti-BJP rhetoric for public consumption.

Lone concluded by stating that while he could not be certain of the National Conference’s true motive, his assessment was that this was less a genuine campaign for statehood and more an exercise aimed at burying Article 370 and 35A for good, leaving statehood as a secondary and diminished consolation prize.