Omar Abdullah confronts centre over delayed J&Ok statehood and ‘hidden’ quota agendas
4 min learnJammuApr 20, 2026 10:34 PM IST
Hitting out on the BJP-led Centre over ladies’s reservation and the unfulfilled promise of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday requested if its guarantees had been “so mild that you simply repeat them in every single place – within the Supreme Court docket, in Parliament, in election rallies – after which step again”.
“What was their promise?” Abdullah requested at a public rally in Nowshera in Rajouri district. For restoration of statehoodit had outlined a three-step course of — first delimitation, then elections and thereafter statehood, he added.
Delimitation occurred, adopted by not one however two elections — Lok Sabha and Meeting — in 2024, he mentioned. They’d mentioned statehood can be restored as soon as elections had been over, Abdullah added, noting that “one and a half years have handed and in the present day, we’re asking as to the place that promise is.”
“There’s nonetheless no clear reply,” he mentioned, including that the BJP says “on the proper time”. “I hold asking them to inform clearly what the fitting time means,” he added.
“Should you say it’s your promise and if in case you have given your phrase, does your phrase haven’t any worth,” Abdullah requested, including, “ought to we contemplate your guarantees are so mild that you simply repeat them in every single place – within the Supreme Court docket, in Parliament, within the election rallies, after which step again”.
He urged the Centre to spell out a transparent roadmap for restoration of statehood. “Clarify to us what this ‘proper time’ is in order that we are able to work in direction of it,” he mentioned.
“Similar to after we set exams for youngsters, we inform them what marks are wanted to cross… equally, inform us what situations should be met so we are able to attain that purpose,” he added.
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Asking the place the statehood promise stood, Abdullah mentioned individuals had voted hoping the perceived injustice towards Jammu and Kashmir can be addressed.
Stating that “turning us from a State right into a Union Territory felt like a punishment”, he additionally questioned native BJP leaders: “The place did their guarantees go?”
Referring to the 2024 Meeting elections, he mentioned that although the BJP couldn’t type a authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, it stays in energy on the Centre. “They didn’t say that if you happen to give energy to a different social gathering, we are going to punish you, however promised that statehood would occur in three steps: first delimitation, then elections and thereafter statehood,” he mentioned.
Abdullah additionally hit out on the BJP over the implementation of ladies’s reservation in legislatures.
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“We had mentioned in Parliament that we help the Invoice, however delimitation can’t be carried out with out a census,” he mentioned, asking, “what was the compulsion? What was hidden behind that invoice?”
Alleging makes an attempt to push delimitation underneath the duvet of ladies’s reservation, he referred to the delimitation train in Jammu and Kashmir, saying, “have we forgotten how delimitation occurred right here?” Seven seats had been created — out of these, six had been taken by the BJP, he added.
“Clearly, delimitation was carried out to consolidate management,” Abdullah mentioned, including, “it’s one other matter that, by the need of the Almighty, their plans didn’t absolutely succeed, and folks like Surender Chaudhary (current deputy chief minister) gained defeating such designs”.
Stating that the Nationwide Convention will proceed to lift such points, he mentioned, “that’s the reason we hold confronting them and questioning them. And after we do, they aren’t comfy — they aren’t completely happy.”
