Congress Demands Immediate J&K Statehood Restoration Again

New Delhi, August 5, 2026: The Indian National Congress on Wednesday renewed its demand for the immediate restoration of full statehood to Jammu & Kashmir, accusing the BJP-led Union Government of failing to fulfil repeated assurances made since the revocation of the region's special constitutional status in August 2019.

In a statement titled "Seven Years of a Broken Promise: Restore Statehood to Jammu & Kashmir", AICC General Secretary in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Dr. Syed Naseer Hussain, said the Centre had completed every stage of its own roadmap except the final promise of restoring statehood.

He said that seven years ago, the Union Government revoked Jammu & Kashmir's special constitutional status and bifurcated the former state into two Union Territories, describing it as the first such demotion of a full-fledged state in independent India's history. According to the statement, the government had justified the move as a temporary arrangement based on a four-stage roadmap comprising reorganisation, delimitation, assembly elections and restoration of statehood. While the first three stages have been completed, the final commitment remains unfulfilled.

The Congress leader alleged that the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister had publicly reaffirmed the promise of restoring statehood on at least seven occasions since 2019, yet never announced a specific date or legislative timetable.

The statement listed the following assurances:

• 5 August 2019: The Union Home Minister told the Rajya Sabha that statehood would be restored "at an appropriate time."
• 13 February 2021: The Home Minister informed the Lok Sabha that Jammu & Kashmir would be granted statehood at an appropriate time.
• 11 December 2023: On the day the Supreme Court directed that statehood be restored at the earliest, the Home Minister again assured the Rajya Sabha that it would happen at an appropriate time.
• 20 May 2024: The Prime Minister told PTI that restoration of statehood was "a solemn promise we have made and we stand by it."
• 8 September 2024: During a rally in Jammu, the Home Minister stated that only the Centre and the Prime Minister could restore statehood and that it would be done at an appropriate time.
• 19 September 2024: At a rally in Srinagar, the Prime Minister said, "We had promised in Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir will again be a state."
• 29 March 2025: Speaking at the Times Now Summit, the Home Minister repeated the assurance but said the timeline could not be disclosed publicly.

The Congress statement argued that despite these repeated commitments, neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister has announced a date, introduced a Bill, or identified a parliamentary session for restoring statehood.

Describing the delay as a "chronicle of betrayal", Dr. Hussain alleged that reorganisation, delimitation and assembly elections were all completed according to publicly declared deadlines, while statehood alone had been indefinitely postponed. He claimed that the repeated use of the phrase "at an appropriate time" had become a substitute for accountability.

The statement noted that the reorganisation was completed in October 2019, delimitation in May 2022, and Assembly elections were held between September and October 2024, leading to the installation of an elected government. It alleged that the restoration of statehood—the final and most consequential promise—had been withheld despite assurances made before Parliament and under oath before the Supreme Court.

According to the Congress, this has resulted in what it called a "democratic travesty". The party claimed that although Jammu & Kashmir now has an elected government, it functions without the constitutional powers enjoyed by other states because the Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the Centre, continues to exercise overriding executive authority over key matters. The statement argued that this undermines the principles of federalism and democratic governance.

The Congress also recalled that on 16 July 2025, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi jointly wrote to the Prime Minister, stating that restoring full statehood to Jammu & Kashmir was not a concession but a constitutional and democratic right of its people. They argued that reducing a full-fledged state to a Union Territory had no precedent in independent India and urged the government to introduce legislation restoring statehood. The statement said that the letter, like previous assurances, had received no response.

The Congress concluded its statement by placing three formal demands before the Centre:

• Immediate and unconditional restoration of full statehood to Jammu & Kashmir.
• Restoration of full constitutional powers to the elected institutions of Jammu & Kashmir so that its people can govern themselves.
• Respect for India's democratic institutions and federal structure in both principle and practice.

The party said it had marched in Parliament demanding restoration of statehood and asserted that after seven years, the people of Jammu & Kashmir deserve the same constitutional status, dignity and right to self-governance as every other state in the country. It maintained that statehood is a constitutional right, not a favour to be granted at the Centre's convenience, and called for its immediate restoration without further delay.