In its first cabinet meeting, the Omar Abdullah led government has reportedly passed a resolution asking the Centre to restore statehood of Jammu and Kashmir that was downgraded as a Union Territory on 5 August 2019.
However, the opposition on Friday questioned the “secrecy” being maintained on the issue as so far there was no official word on passing of the resolution which the opposition parties also described as scaling down from National Conference’s earlier demand of restoration of Article 370.
There was no confirmation or denial about the resolution having been adopted by the Omar-government although his criticism on the issue was viral since this morning. All five ministers were present in the first cabinet meeting that was presided by Omar on Thursday.
According to reports, Omar is expected to fly to New Delhi to handover the draft of the resolution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and also the Peoples Conference led by Sajad Lone have questioned the move and described it as a change in the stand of the National Conference led government.
Awami Ittehad Party MP Engineer Rashid also raised the matter on the “secrecy” being made by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the issue.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti wrote on X; “Does it bode well for J&K when the first cabinet meet is shrouded in secrecy about a resolution on restoring statehood but not a squeak about restoring J&Ks special status? Isn’t this fait accompli, whitewashing & legitimising Delhi’s illegal brutal disempowerment & disrobing of India’s only Muslim majority state? Not a scale back but utter surrender”.
Peoples Conference chairman and MLA Sajad Lone questioned the cabinet’s secrecy on statehood resolution. “In wonderment why should a resolution on statehood passed by the cabinet be shrouded in mystery and secrecy — that only one newspaper publishes it”, he asked.
“I hope the CS (chief secretary) of J&K has notified it as is the protocol”, Lone said.
“I very humbly state that the will of the people of J and K is reflected in the Assembly and not in the cabinet. The Cabinet is a majoritarian institution of governance. It does not reflect all shades and opinions as per the will of the people of J&K”, Lone stressed.
He said “All across the country, the Assembly is the proper institution for addressing major issues like that of statehood or Article 370. When the NC Government passed a resolution on autonomy they passed it in the Assembly not through a cabinet resolution. What has changed now. Fail to understand why this resolution should not have been reserved for the Assembly. Why are we so keen to trivialise everything? Would have loved to see which way BJP and other parties vote on statehood and on Article 370 resolution when it is presented in the Assembly”.
Lone said the NC manifesto for the Assembly elections had said that the party would strive to Restore Articles 370-35A, and Statehood as prior to August 5 2019.
PDP MLA Waheed Para reacted; “Omar Abdullah’s first resolution on statehood is nothing less than ratification of the August 5th, 2019 decision. No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370”.