Omar Abdullah-led cabinet passes resolution for Jammu and Kashmir statehood in first meeting

In its first cabinet meeting on Thursday, the government led by Omar Abdullah passed a resolution urging the National Democratic Alliance-led Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

The draft of the resolution has been prepared by the National Conference, which won 42 seats in the recently held assembly elections.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is expected to travel to New Delhi and hand over the draft of the resolution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reacting to the cabinet’s decision, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed Para said on X, “Omar Abdullah’s first resolution on statehood is nothing less than a rectification 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.”

On Thursday, a plea seeking a time-bound restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir was mentioned in the Supreme Court for urgent hearing and the apex court has agreed to hear the matter.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the applicants, requested an urgent hearing before a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Earlier, on December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court had unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The court had also directed that assembly elections be held by September 2024 and emphasised that the state’s status should be restored “at the earliest.”

Following the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcement regarding the assembly elections, Omar Abdullah had said that the Jammu and Kashmir assembly would prioritise passing a resolution against the Centre’s decision to revoke the region’s statehood and special status.

Elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly were held in three phases, from September 18 to October 1, resulting in the formation of a government by the National Conference-Congress alliance.

Before taking the oath, Omar Abdullah had said that the first task of his government would be to become the voice of the people. He expressed optimism that Jammu and Kashmir would not remain a Union territory for long and would soon regain full statehood.