National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday sent invitations to 54 leaders, including national leaders, heads of different political parties of J&K, and some prominent citizens, inviting them to join a peaceful, democratic protest at Jantar Mantar, to be held by the party to demand statehood restoration to Jammu and Kashmir.
The protest is slated to be held on July 20--on first day of Parliament’s monsoon session.
“The manner in which our state, once a constitutional entity with it’s own assembly, it’s own government, it’s own identity - has been reduced and held in administrative subordination strikes at the very root of our federal document. The structure it envision is one where states are not merely administrative conveniences of the Union, but living, breathing expression of the democratic will of the people who inhabit them. When that constitutional structure is compromised, when our state is stripped of it’s status and then made to wait indefinitely for what was promised as a temporary measure, all those who form a part of the democratic process of J&K, must stand at the very helm and forefront the struggle to reclaim our lost rights and dignity we have been stripped off. I don’t believe that any of you, irrespective of party affiliations or ideological persuasions, joined public life to be a silent bystander to the erosion of the constitutional framework that we have all sworn to uphold,” reads the letter.
“I therefore on behalf of JKNC and the J&K’s people, extend to you, with all the sincerity at my command, an earnest invitation to stand not just with the people of J&K at Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the monsoon session but for the very principles and ethos of what this great nation stands for. Our protest shall be peaceful , democratic, and constitutional - as it must be, and as it shall be . We are not asking for anything beyond what was promised. Our demands shall not transgress from those which have already promised to us.”
{{/usCountry}}“I therefore on behalf of JKNC and the J&K’s people, extend to you, with all the sincerity at my command, an earnest invitation to stand not just with the people of J&K at Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the monsoon session but for the very principles and ethos of what this great nation stands for. Our protest shall be peaceful , democratic, and constitutional - as it must be, and as it shall be . We are not asking for anything beyond what was promised. Our demands shall not transgress from those which have already promised to us.”
{{/usCountry}}NC chief spokesperson and legislator Tanvir Sadiq wrote on X: “The JKNC president Farooq Abdullah has reached out to political parties across J&K and leaders from across the country, inviting them to join our peaceful, democratic protest at Jantar Mantar.”
Among those who have been sent invitations are Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi, MK Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, D Raja, Kapil Sibal, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Asaduddin Owaisi, Sukhbir Singh Badal, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and heads of all regional political parties of J&K, BJP state president Sat Sharma, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.