Sajad Lone, Altaf Bukhari not to join NC statehood protest in Delhi; Congress to attend

JKPC chief and lawmaker Sajad Lone questioned both the timing and the real motive behind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s call for a sit-in in Delhi at Jantar Mantar. | Photo credit: PTI

Two J&K regional parties, J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) and J&K Apni Party (JKAP), have decided not to join the ruling National Conference’s July 20 protest in New Delhi demanding statehood and constitutional guarantees. However, the J&K Congress will attend the rally and also plans to hold district protests on July 19, a day before the NC protest.

JKPC chief and lawmaker Sajad Lone questioned both the timing and the real motive behind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s call for a sit-in in Delhi at Jantar Mantar.

“Our party stands for the status of Jammu and Kashmir before August 5, 2019: Article 370, Article 35A and full statehood; Article 370 is the most important of the three. Major political decisions in a democracy require consensus, not unilateral calls to the streets,” Lone said.

Mr Lone said the J&K Assembly “remains the constitutional voice of the people”. “On this basis, it was unacceptable that no statehood resolution was passed in almost two years. My attempts to move such a resolution were blocked by the Speaker on the grounds that it was a sub-judicial proceeding,” Mr Lone said.

He said the government should have convened an emergency session of the Assembly, passed a statehood resolution and then sent an all-party delegation without theatrics to meet the prime minister, home minister and opposition leader.

“Bypassing the Assembly and taking the issue directly to Delhi would reduce the issue of statehood to a fight between the BJP and the opposition at the national level and deprive the people of Jammu and Kashmir of any real role in their own cause,” Mr Lone said.

Rhetoric for public consumption

He accused the NC of “inconsistency”. “The NC rushed to hand over scarves to central leaders even before the final election results and later sent flowers to the Union Home Minister after Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in West Bengal, while invoking anti-BJP rhetoric for public consumption,” Mr Lone said.

He said dharnas have historically produced little outside of media coverage and suggested that the protest also served to divert attention from governance failures.

J&K Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said the proposed NC Jantar Mantar protest “is to empower your government, not to empower the people”.

“If NC was serious about restoring statehood to J&K, it would have demanded it for the last six years, especially when the government was being formed in 2024. They should have raised this issue when they got a huge public mandate in the elections. But they were silent then. Now they are raising the issue only because they want to strengthen their own government,” Bukhari said.

He said his party strongly believes that restoration of J&K statehood is a matter of honor and dignity for its people. “We believe in achieving our goals through democratic and political means, not confrontation. Only dialogue can bring back our rights including statehood. We cannot afford any confrontation, we need to convince the Center through political means – which are talks,” Mr Bukhari said.

Forgotten problems

He said that NC once talked about the so-called ‘Raishumari’ (plebiscite). “Later it started demanding autonomy. Recently they campaigned on the promise of restoring Article 370 and 35A. Now they don’t talk about these issues anymore. Wait a while and they will stop talking about statehood too,” Mr Bukhari said.

He said that the traditional political parties were responsible for the hardships and sufferings faced by the people of Jammu and Kashmir in recent decades.

Meanwhile, the J&K Congress has formally announced its decision to participate in the proposed protest in New Delhi on July 20. “The Hamari Riyasat, Hamara Haq movement was launched almost two years ago for the restoration of full statehood to J&K. The campaign was never meant to be limited to one political party but a broad-based people’s movement reflecting the mindset and constitutional rights of all regions, political aspirations, political aspirations, social rights. We wholeheartedly welcome the NC’s decision which affects every resident of J&K,” J&K Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Hamid Karra said.

Published – 17 Jul 2026 23:15 IST