Srinagar, August 15 : Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said the journey towards the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood will not be simple, but expressed hope that it would be achieved with time.
Addressing the Independence Day event at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar, he reflected on the region’s political shifts over the past several years.
Delivering his first Independence Day speech in over a decade, Omar noted that the last time he addressed the occasion, he was the Chief Minister of a state. “Today, I stand here as the head of a Union Territory,” he said, recalling the period before Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status and statehood in 2019.
He said there had been anticipation ahead of this year’s national celebrations that an announcement regarding the return of statehood might be made. “We had heard that some documents were being prepared. There was some expectation,” he said. “But the day came and went without any such development.”
The Chief Minister remarked that although the reintroduction of an elected government came after a long gap, it was a necessary step.He said the democratic process had been on pause for too long, and that even though delayed, elections brought back a much-needed element of governance in the region.
Reflecting on the hours leading up to his speech, Omar said he spent the night thinking about what message to give the people. His address focused largely on the political transformation of Jammu and Kashmir and the aspirations tied to its former status.
Omar Abdullah also made history on Friday by becoming the first elected Chief Minister to hoist the national flag in Jammu and Kashmir since 2017. The last time an elected leader presided over the Independence Day ceremony in Srinagar was when Mehbooba Mufti held the post.
The fall of the PDP-BJP coalition in June 2018 led to Governor’s rule, followed by the reorganisation of the region in August 2019. Since then, there had been no elected government until the recent polls restored an elected leadership.(KNS).
