The Congress, on Saturday, began an 11-day symbolic hunger strike to demand the return of full statehood to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The protest is part of the party’s ‘Hamari Riyasat, Hamara Haq’ campaign.
The party is stepping up pressure on the Centre amid renewed push for statehood by the political parties in the region. JKPCC president Tariq Hameed Karra launched the strike at the Congress headquarters on MA Road in Srinagar.
He was joined by senior leaders, including AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir and several MLAs. A similar protest will be held in Jammu on Sunday, with the strike continuing in a relay format across all districts until August 20.
Karra said the date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the Quit India Movement. “From August 9 to August 21, we will hold hunger strikes in six districts. This is a peaceful effort to wake up the government in Delhi and to speak for the 1.40 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
He said the party would closely follow the ongoing Parliament session for any move on statehood. “If nothing happens by August 21, we will announce our next step,” he said.
The Congress campaign coincides with the Monsoon Session of Parliament and the Supreme Court’s decision to hear on August 14 a plea seeking restoration of J&K’s statehood.
The party has upped the ante as speculation grows that the Centre may grant statehood to Jammu and parts of the Anantnag–Rajouri parliamentary constituency, while keeping the Kashmir Valley as a Union territory, a move Karra called “politically dangerous” and certain to spark a strong public and global reaction.
Political observers opine that Congress, by taking the lead on the statehood demand, aims to regain political ground lost to the BJP, particularly in the Jammu region, where the saffron party has dominated in recent elections.
The party’s leadership in J&K has also been buoyed by the return of several senior leaders who had left to join Ghulam Nabi Azad’s now-defunct Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
The hunger strike is being seen as both a symbolic act of protest and a strategic political move to reassert Congress’s presence in the Union territory’s shifting political landscape.
It comes nearly five years after the Centre, on August 5, 2019, revoked J&K’s special status, split it into two Union territories, and scrapped Articles 370 and 35A.
In neighbouring Ladakh, a separate three-day hunger strike is also underway, demanding statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.