Rehan Qayoom Mir
Srinagar, Sep 28 (KNO): Peoples Conference president and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone on Monday said J&K’s political status should be guided by the promises made in 1947 and not by the constitutional changes of 2019.
Speaking during the discussion on the statehood resolution, Lone, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said statehood is not a promise made by the Prime Miniater or the Supreme Court. He said he had full respect for both institutions but objected to members repeatedly citing their assurances as the basis of the House’s claim.
“I have full respect for the Prime Minister of India and the Supreme Court of India. But if we are here today, it is not because of any promise made by the Prime Minister or the Supreme Court. We are here because of the promises made to the people of J&K in 1947,” Lone said.
“If we are here today, it is not because of Modi ji’s promise or because of the Supreme Court,” he told the House.
His remarks drew sharp interjections from the BJP legislators as he invoked 1947 and the role of Kashmiris in bringing J&K into India. “We fought, you did not fight,” Lone shot back, telling BJP members to hear him out first and reply afterwards if they had an argument.
Lone said the promise of 1947 was of an exalted status within a federal structure. “The people of J&K will have an exalted status. That they will have autonomy, that they will have the power to make their own decisions,” he said. But the erosion, he added, began almost immediately. “’52 happened, ’56 happened, ’58 happened, and ’65 happened. One by one, they took everything away.” The process ended in 2019, he said, when J&K lost both its statehood and its special standing.
Lone said Union Territory status has two dimensions now — one is the power that was “snatched away” and second what he called the “UT lottery,” the shift of real authority to unelected officials. Bureaucrats, he said, now hold sway while elected representatives are sidelined. “The IAS officers today do not even pick up the phones of elected representatives here,” he said.
Drawing on the common law tradition India inherited from Britain, Lone said the downgrading of a state has no parallel. “Wherever common law is followed, nowhere has such relegation occurred. This is the first place on the entire earth where a state has been relegated to a UT. This is the only one,” he said.
Questioning the constitutional and legal basis of the Centre’s decision, Lone asked, “Tell me, the Union government that relegated us — is this within the limits of law or not?”
Referring to the Supreme Court judgment, he said petitioners had approached it with a single question: whether the Union Government’s relegation of a state to a UT is within the ambit of law.
“The honourable Supreme Court gave no answer. They just gave a date stating that at the appropriate time, you will be given statehood,” he said. “If they had said that this is illegal, we would have gotten statehood.” As it stands, he said, a larger question remains open: “Even today, we don’t know whether this is a precedent, whether the Union Government can relegate any state in India to a UT.”
Lone also took issue with the language of benevolence used by some members. “They will give statehood! He is saying it as if he will give it from his own pocket! We will take everything from here!” he said.
Returning to his central argument, Lone urged the House not to let the starting point of the conversation shift.
“The reference point in this Assembly should be 1947, not 2019. We cannot change the reference point. We cannot change the contours of history,” Lone said.
“We should stop talking about the promises made by the Supreme Court in 2019. Our promise is the promise of 1947. That should be the reference point of this Assembly. We cannot change the context of history. The context of history will remain what it was in 1947,” he said.
“This is a phase. How many came and how many went. They will also go one day. You will also go one day. We are also in a phase,” Lone added—(KNO)
