Jammu, Aug. 4 -- National Conference provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta on Tuesday said his party would observe August 5 as "black day" to mark the "unconstitutional and unilateral" abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's constitutional guarantees in 2019, and to register a strong protest against the Centre's "refusal" to restore statehood.
The Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also announced separate protest demonstrations outside their party headquarters in Jammu to mark the seventh anniversary of the August 5, 2019 developments, when the Centre abrogated J&K's special status under Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. In a statement, Gupta said August 5 remains one of the "darkest days" in the constitutional and democratic history of Jammu and Kashmir.
"The decisions taken on that day stripped the people of their constitutional safeguards and were imposed without their consent, undermining the principles of democracy, federalism and constitutional propriety. The people of Jammu and Kashmir continue to bear the political, constitutional and emotional consequences of those decisions," he said.
Gupta said while the BJP has repeatedly claimed that the downgrading of the erstwhile state was temporary, its continued reluctance to restore statehood has exposed the "hollowness" of its promises.
"The people were assured that statehood would be restored at the earliest, yet years have passed without any concrete action. Instead of fulfilling its solemn commitment, the Centre has chosen to prolong uncertainty and deny the people their legitimate democratic rights," he said.
The NC provincial president said the prolonged delay in restoring statehood has deprived J&K of the constitutional authority and administrative autonomy that every full-fledged state enjoys.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.