New Delhi, June 13 -- Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 11 and pressed for the early restoration of full statehood to the Union Territory. The meeting took place on the margins of the 11th NITI Aayog Governing Council session. Abdullah also congratulated Modi on completing 12 uninterrupted years in office. Three days earlier, at the INDIA bloc's June 8 meeting at the Constitution Club, Abdullah had asked representatives of 22 opposition parties to join the National Conference when it comes to Delhi to protest for statehood restoration during Parliament's Monsoon Session in July.

The statehood demand is not new. What is new is the urgency behind it. The National Conference...