Opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday described Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement of launching a signature campaign to seek statehood for the Union Territory as “theatrics” and a “token gesture”.

Abdullah said during his speech on the occasion of Independence Day that his hope for statehood being restored to Jammu and Kashmir was fading.

The chief minister announced that over the coming eight weeks, he and his team would go door to door across all 90 Assembly constituencies to collect signatures in support of restoring statehood. These signatures will be presented before the Supreme Court, he said.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Para said Abdullah “owes an apology, not a signature campaign”, accusing the chief minister of reducing the fight for statehood to tokenism.

“The people gave him a historic mandate to fight for Article 370 and statehood, not to stage political theatre,” Para said in a social media post.

He also accused Abdullah of betraying the commitment he made in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

“If he has already surrendered, he must admit it and apologise to every citizen of J&K for selling promises he never intended to keep,” Para added.

Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone also criticised Abdullah, questioning why the chief minister was avoiding bringing a resolution in the Assembly, which would carry “constitutional dignity”.

“Signature campaigns have no legal or constitutional sanctity,” Lone said. “Name one event empirically in India or in the rest of the world where signature campaigns have altered legal interpretations. They are not even admissible. Assembly resolutions reflect the will of the people unambiguously.”

Abdullah claimed on Friday that he was told “something big for Jammu and Kashmir will be announced from Delhi on Independence Day”.

“I was even told that papers were being prepared [for statehood],” said the chief minister. “We waited, but nothing happened.”

Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre had abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state, in August 2019. It also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

In December 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 2019 order abrogating Article 370 and ordered the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

In January, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he wanted to give the Centre the “first opportunity” to restore the Union Territory’s statehood before seeking legal recourse.

The National Conference leader told reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself committed to restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. “Every government or every individual has recourse to courts,” Omar Abdullah said. “But that was never going to be our first option.”

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