Mehbooba Mufti rules out joining statehood protest, says demand without Article 370 ‘shameful surrender’

Srinagar, Jul 18  : People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday declined to join the National Conference-led protest at Jantar Mantar demanding restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that any agitation shorn of the demand for Article 370 would amount to a “shameful surrender” of the people’s rights and dignity.

In a letter to NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah accessed news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS) Mehbooba Mufti said her party would not participate in a protest whose reason is solely and exclusively the demand for statehood.” She argued that such a limited demand would inadvertently legitimise the BJP’s narrative and risk whitewashing the “illegal and unconstitutional” abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

“Not only does this half-hearted demand echo and legitimise the BJP’s odious narrative of relegating Article 370 to the back burner, but it also risks whitewashing the illegal and unconstitutional harakiri carried out in stealth on 5th August 2019,” Mufti wrote in her letter to Abdullah.

The former chief minister expressed deep anguish over the NC-led government’s apparent shift in political priorities, accusing it of normalising the BJP’s agenda by reducing the larger political struggle to the “narrow and diminishing narrative of statehood” alone.

Mufti pointed out that both the PDP and the NC had explicitly promised restoration of Article 370 in their manifestos for the 2024 assembly elections and that the people had reposed their faith in these assurances.

“The overwhelming majority your party received was a clear reflection of the expectations that people placed in you,” she said, while expressing concern that even after two years in power, the NC has become “complicit” in what she termed as disempowering policy decisions.

She listed grievances including summary dismissal of government employees, harassment of Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliated schools, arbitrary detentions, systematic purge of Kashmiri literature, and environmental destruction—all, she alleged, under the guise of development.

Urging Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take the lead in forging a broader political consensus, Mufti proposed convening an all-party meeting involving civil society representatives to discuss a host of issues affecting the people of J&K.

She suggested that a meaningful political process must begin by addressing fundamental issues, including release of political prisoners and revocation of the ban on socio-political organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami.

Recalling her efforts in 2019 to forge a united front—which later took shape as the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)—Mufti lamented that her earlier letter to the NC leadership on the matter had not even received a formal acknowledgment.

“An honest and meaningful political process can only begin by addressing fundamental issues,” she said, while appealing to the NC leadership to rise above partisan politics.

Mufti also noted that she had suggested emulating the Ladakhi leadership’s approach, which resulted in meaningful dialogue with Delhi aimed at restoring certain constitutional guarantees.

In a sharp critique of the proposed Jantar Mantar protest, Mehbooba Mufti said that demanding only statehood without addressing the abrogation of Article 370 would be a “grave injustice” and a “betrayal” of the people’s aspirations.

“Protesting in unison solely for statehood would only legitimise and sanitise the illegal act of revoking J&K’s special status and could be viewed as a direct endorsement of 5th August—the darkest day in our collective history,” she wrote.

While extending her best wishes for the protest, she made it clear that the PDP would not be a part of it and reiterated her party’s unwavering commitment to the restoration of Article 370.

“Demanding anything shorn of it would amount to a shameful surrender of our rights and dignity—an unforgivable footnote that will condemn each one of us in the annals of J&K’s history,” she said in her concluding remarks. (KNS)