SRINAGAR, AUGUST 15: On the occasion of the 79th Independence Day, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hoisted the Tricolour at the Bakshi Stadium here and delivered an address to the people of Jammu & Kashmir, calling for unity, justice and restoration of the State’s constitutional status.
Opening his speech on a solemn note, the Chief Minister extended heartfelt condolences to the families affected in Kishtwar due to cloudburst tragedy.
“As we celebrate our Independence Day, at the same time we mourn the loss of precious lives in the cloudburst at Kishtwar. I want to tell the people of Kishtwar and those affected by this calamity — my government stands with them shoulder-to-shoulder and Government will support them. We must also see whether administration could have been proactive and done more to save these precious lives because there was advance weather advisory. In the coming days, we shall fix the responsibility for any lapses,” he said.
Marking his first Independence Day address from the Bakshi Stadium in over a decade, Omar Abdullah reflected on the seismic political changes since he last addressed the state from this platform.
“It has been 11 years since I have addressed the people of Jammu & Kashmir from this stage. Back then, we had our own identity, our own special status, our own flag, and our own constitution. Today, none of that remains. Even the status of being aState is not ours anymore,” he said.
The Chief Minister questioned the prolonged wait for democracy’s return to J&K and the unfulfilled hopes of meaningful announcements from New Delhi.
“Some of our friends and relatives kept telling me this year there would be an announcement from Delhi. We waited. It did not happen. The truth is, the ray of light I often spoke about has dimmed slightly — but I am still not ready to give up or accept that nothing will change,” he asserted.
Omar Abdullah asked whether the stated objective of integrating J&K fully and equally with the rest of the country had truly been achieved.
“Has equality come? Are we really equal to the rest of the country? Have we really improved? If yes, I will remain silent. But if not, tell me — what was our fault that we find ourselves here today?”
Sharing his personal experience of leading both a State and now a Union Territory, he was candid in his critique:
“I do not want anyone to be the Chief Minister of a Union Territory. This system of governance looks good on paper but fails in reality. It is a governance structure designed for failure.”
He said that he was disappointed with observations made by the SC bench and Pahalgam incident being used as an excuse to delay Statehood. CM said that restoration of Statehood should be the first step to build a strong J&K. There should not be a situation where bureaucracy is not accountable to Elected Government.
Chief Minister said that no one should aspire to become CM of a Union Territory. “People will ask why did you take part in electoral process of a UT but I didn’t know it will be made so difficult. The situation has come to such a pass that Cabinet decisions are stopped and not issued. What will the elected government do if its hands are tied”, CM said
The CM likened the functioning of the current administration to “tying a horse’s front legs and then asking it to run,” citing instances where Cabinet decisions were stalled, altered, or left unapproved.
Despite these hurdles, he outlined achievements over the past 10 months, including:
Passing a resolution in the J&K Assembly to restore special status and statehood.
Cabinet approval for statehood restoration.
Budgetary decisions benefiting education, health, social welfare, transport, tourism and agriculture.
Quick restoration of electricity during winter outages.
Expansion of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP).
Launch of “Mission Yuva” to create livelihoods for 4–4.5 lakh youth.
Increasing MLAs’ Constituency Development Fund to empower elected representatives.
He stressed the urgent need to restore the “triple chain of accountability” envisioned by the Supreme Court, ensuring bureaucracy is answerable to the elected government and elected government to the Assembly.
Expressing dismay over linking of statehood restoration to security incidents, the Chief Minister said:
“We are being punished for the Pahalgam attack — an attack the people of J&K themselves condemned from Kathua to Kupwara. Statehood should not be decided by those behind Pahalgam. Is this justice?”
He reminded that during previous elected governments, militancy-related incidents consistently declined and that elected leadership has proven its capability to maintain peace.
“Trust us once — we did not fail before, and God willing, we will not fail in the future,” he said.
Declaring a people’s movement in response to the Supreme Court’s eight-week timeframe for hearing the statehood case again, Omar Abdullah announced:
“We will not sit idle. Over the next eight weeks, we will reach all 90 Assembly constituencies, every village, every home, gathering signatures and thumb impressions from people on whether they want J&K to be a State again. If the people say they are satisfied with the current situation, I will accept defeat. But my heart tells me we will gather hundreds of thousands of signatures to present before the Central Government and the Supreme Court.”
The Chief Minister concluded with a stirring appeal to reclaim the inclusive and equal India envisioned by the freedom fighters:
“We have to get the India for which Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, and countless others sacrificed their lives. An India where equality, brotherhood, and the right to participate in the democratic struggle are guaranteed for all.”
The Chief Minister also inspected the parade and took salute at an impressive march past of the contingents comprising of J&K Police, Security forces, schools’ students, besides Brass & Pipe bands of J&K Police and school students. In light of the calamity that struck Kishtwar village, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah decided to forgo the cultural events scheduled for the morning Independence Day celebrations.
