CPI(M) asks Centre to restore full statehood to J&K

CPI(M) demands full statehood and democracy restoration in Jammu and Kashmir, condemning human rights violations and political suppression.

The CPI(M) party congress on Saturday (April 5, 2025) adopted a resolution calling upon the Centre to restore full statehood and democracy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Introduced by party Central Committee member and legislator M.Y. Tarigami, the resolution said the unconstitutional abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A had dismembered and downgraded the State, with its bifurcation into Union Territories (UTs) creating a deep political void, intensifying the sense of uncertainty and alienation among the people.

“Civil liberties, human rights and democratic freedoms continue to be eroded. Arbitrary arrests under draconian laws like the UAPA and PSA have become the norm. Hundreds of political activists and journalists remain incarcerated inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir. Youth are being denied job opportunities under the pretext of security verification, while passports are withheld on flimsy grounds,” the resolution said.

It said that despite a slew of oppressive measures taken by the BJP-led Centre, people turned out in large numbers to vote in the Assembly polls held after a gap of seven years and delivered a verdict against the Union government. But the Centre continued to undermine the democratic verdict, said the resolution, which demanded that the government restore full statehood to J&K, protect land and job rights, restore democratic civil and trade union rights, release political detainees and journalists and end indiscriminate arrests of the youth on baseless charges.

Later in the day, Mr. Tarigami told the media that J&K remained a part of the country “not out of coercion, but because of the will of the people of J&K”. He said that what was happening in the region was the beginning of an assault on the Constitution of India.

Citing the transfer of 48 officers of the J&K Administrative Service by the Lieutenant Governor without consulting the elected government, Mr. Tarigami said the people of the State were being “treated as oppressed subjects”.

The party congress also passed resolutions calling for the recognition of basic needs such as food, shelter, employment, pension, education and healthcare as fundamental rights; the withdrawal of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill passed by Parliament and the withdrawal of the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing citing it as a subterfuge to smuggle in the three repealed farm laws.