J&K Assembly: Ruling alliance presses for Statehood as BJP protests over governance issues

The autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly opened on Monday with the ruling National Conference (NC)-led alliance renewing its demand for the restoration of full Statehood, even as Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators disrupted proceedings over a series of governance issues.

Legislators from the NC, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) raised the Statehood demand shortly after the House convened. The move drew a sharp response from BJP members, who entered the well of the House and raised slogans against the government. Legislators from the treasury and Opposition benches jostled with one another as they pressed their protests.

CPI(M) legislator M.Y. Tarigami, who is part of the ruling alliance, said the demand was not a partisan one. "All legislators, irrespective of political affiliations, should jointly press the Government of India to fulfil its repeated commitment to restore full Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The legislature itself is disempowered, and thereby citizens feel disappointed," he said.

Jammu and Kashmir has been a Union Territory since the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 split the former State into two Union Territories. In its December 2023 judgment upholding the reorganisation, the Supreme Court directed that Statehood be restored "at the earliest", and the Centre has since said the matter would be considered. Assembly elections were held in the Union Territory in 2024.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president and legislator Tariq Hameed Karra accused the BJP of "disrupting Question Hour to divert attention from Statehood". "The BJP shied away from responding to issues such as Statehood, paper leaks etc. Instead, the BJP disrupted the proceedings," Mr. Karra said.

BJP legislator and Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma countered by holding the Omar Abdullah government accountable on a slew of pending issues, including the regularisation of National Health Mission (NHM) employees, a 6.83% hike in electricity tariffs, and the regularisation of the services of daily wagers and Anganwadi workers.

"The Omar government is running away from people's issues, but the Opposition must hold him accountable. Mr. Abdullah wants to evade, but the BJP will not let him run and will fulfil its duty with integrity," Mr. Sharma said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in a post on X, said: "The Assembly will provide an opportunity for meaningful debate, constructive deliberations and discussion on issues concerning the welfare and aspirations of our people." Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said Ministers were "here to give answers on any issue".

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislators Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra and Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi said the House was "deliberately" disrupted so that critical issues — including the contentious reservation policy, protesting intern doctors, NHM employees and daily wagers — would not be addressed. Mr. Mehdi claimed that a community constituting 60% of the population had been reduced to a 14% share in the reservation matrix.

Mr. Parra sought the government's attention on youth unemployment, stating that Jammu and Kashmir has an unemployment rate of 32%. "This is the first time in the history of India that you are punishing the meritorious population. You give 30% opportunities to nearly 70% of the population. A flawed reservation policy was created here due to political reasons, and there is a need to revisit it and rationalise it," he said.

He also flagged the region's fertility rate, which he said had dropped to 1.4 children per woman in Jammu and Kashmir — the lowest in the country, according to National Family Health Survey data. "Late marriages, mass voluntary bachelorhood, rising divorce, crushing financial pressure, and rising infertility are gutting the next generation before it is even born," Mr. Parra said.

The claims made by legislators on unemployment, reservation shares and service regularisation were not immediately verified by independent data during the session.