Key facts
- Omar Abdullah demands to know when J&K statehood will be restored
- Quipped: 'Should we go to White House for statehood?'
- Alleges BJP using 'backdoor' politics including alleged Rs 20 crore legislator poaching offers
- J&K has been a Union Territory since August 2019
Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took his sharpest public stand yet on the statehood issue, demanding to know from the central government when exactly it intends to restore full statehood to J&K. "What will be the right time?" Abdullah asked pointedly, adding in a widely quoted remark: "If not Delhi, should we go to the White House for statehood?" The comments reflect growing frustration in Srinagar over what the elected government sees as deliberate delay by the BJP-led Centre.
Abdullah also levelled serious allegations of political destabilisation, accusing BJP of attempting to engineer defections in J&K through what he described as 'backdoor' politics. Reports indicate he pointed to alleged offers of Rs 20 crore and ministerial positions to legislators to switch sides — claims that, if true, would represent a direct assault on the democratic mandate his government received in the assembly elections.
J&K was stripped of statehood and bifurcated into two Union Territories — J&K and Ladakh — in August 2019 following the revocation of Article 370. The Supreme Court, while upholding the bifurcation, had directed that statehood be restored "as soon as possible." That directive remains unimplemented years later, fuelling resentment across political lines in the region.
The BJP has so far not responded in detail to Abdullah's latest remarks. The standoff over statehood is expected to remain a defining political fault line in J&K, with Abdullah increasingly willing to use the national media platform to press his case directly against the Centre.