J&K CM faces fire over ‘signature campaign’ on statehood

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement of a door-to-door signature campaign for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood has triggered a political storm, with opposition parties calling it a “betrayal” of people’s trust and demanding that he instead move a resolution in the Assembly.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Peoples Conference (PC) tore into Omar’s plan, saying signature drives carry “no legal or constitutional sanctity” and only dilute the struggle for statehood and Article 370.

“Omar Abdullah owes an apology, not a signature campaign for normalizing August 5,” PDP leader Waheed Para said, referring to the day J&K lost its special status in 2019. “With 50 MLAs behind him, he has reduced the fight for J&K’s statehood to token gestures, after seeking votes on the promise of restoring pre–August 5 status. This is not just retreat, it is betrayal.”

Para accused the CM of “selling promises he never intended to keep” and urged him to “admit surrender and apologize to every citizen of J&K.”

In his Independence Day address, Omar had defended the campaign as a people’s movement, vowing to take the fight from “every village of J&K to Delhi” in the eight weeks granted by the Supreme Court for hearing statehood petitions.

But Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone dismissed the campaign as “theatrics,” questioning Omar’s reluctance to seek an Assembly resolution that could carry constitutional weight.

“Signature campaigns have no sanctity,” Lone said. “If Omar is serious, let him pass a resolution in the Assembly. That is the most dignified way to approach the Supreme Court. Otherwise, is he simply shielding the BJP by sparing them from taking a stand on statehood?”

Both opposition leaders pledged support for any genuine, constitutional move to restore J&K’s statehood — but not for what they termed a “political spectacle.”