Petition to power

By launching a signature campaign for statehood, Omar Abdullah takes a gamble—to convert public disillusionment into political leverage

- BY TARIQ BHAT

WHEN OMAR ABDULLAH addressed the Independence Day gathering at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar, his words carried the weight of helplessness and resignation. Explaining how the political landscape had drastically shifted since his last address as head of government, he said, “The last time I stood here, I was chief minister of a state. We had an assembly that made decisions, and a cabinet that implemented them. We had our flag, our constitution, our laws. Today, I am chief minister of a Union territory. Cabinet decisions are passed, but many don’t get cleared. Some files don’t return. Some disappear.”

An elected government, Abdullah argued, must have the right to govern. He said people had expected something substantive from New Delhi this Independence Day. “Even I hoped. But nothing came—again,” he said. “Are we better now? After six years of silence, are we?”

After venting his frustration, Abdullah announced a door-to-door signature campaign demanding the restoration of statehood. The announcement came a day after Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, responding to a petition for an early hearing on statehood, said, “You cannot ignore what happened in Pahalgam. It is up to Parliament and the executive to make a decision.” The petition had argued that no security concerns justified a delay in restoring statehood, and that denying statehood without a timeline violated federal principles in the Constitution.