Introduction
Following his assumption of the post of Chief Minister after the recent assembly elections, Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to persuade him to restore ‘statehood’ for the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).[1] On 5 August 2019, the Indian government – acting illegally and unilaterally – had bifurcated the occupied territory into two parts – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – and made them both ‘Union Territory. ’
Throughout the election campaign in the run-up to the assembly elections, the issue of restoration of Article 370 and ‘statehood’ figured prominently. Nearly every party participating in the polls made restoration of both or at least restoration of ‘statehood’ a part of their election manifesto. While the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of Mehbooba Mufti demanded restoration of both the statehood and Article 370,[2] the National Conference (NC) made pledges on similar lines as well.[3]Interestingly, manifesto of Indian National Congress did mention restoration of statehood but remained silent on the issue of restoration of Article 370 despite the fact that it had criticised the BJP government severely at the time of its revocation in 2019.[4] The BJP manifesto highlighted the so-called ‘benefits’ of abrogation of Article 370 five years ago. Though the BJP manifesto did not speak about restoring statehood, Prime Minister Modi during his campaign visit to IIOJK had expressed his intention of restoring statehood saying: “We have said in the parliament that we will restore (the region’s) statehood. Only the BJP will fulfil this commitment”.[5] Home Minister Amit Shah, too, made similar promise of restoring the statehood but at the same time warned that Article 370 was ‘history’ and not going to come back.[6]
