Fulfil the promise: On restoring Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir

📌 Summary:

• Context: Over 2.5 years since the Supreme Court recorded the Union govt's assurance that Statehood would be restored to J&K; no timeline was set, but progressive restoration was expected — nothing has been done
• Core argument: The Centre has treated the absence of a timeline as licence for indefinite deferral; continued UT status after popular elections is unjustified and must end
• Assurances cited: PM Modi pledged restoration before the J&K elections; HM Amit Shah reiterated it on the floor of Parliament
• Democratic deficit: UT status subordinates the elected government to an unelected Lieutenant Governor who retains preponderant control over bureaucracy, police and institutions — no principled justification once a government is installed
• Centre's rationale rebutted: The "security" plea (Solicitor-General cited the Pahalgam attack) does not hold — the attack was cross-border (India responded via Operation Sindoor), which has no bearing on trusting elected J&K representatives
• Causal logic: Empowering elected leaders to address local grievances pre-empts alienation; denying it feeds resentment and the cycles of militancy that plagued the Valley for decades
• Wider pattern: Centre's handling of J&K, Ladakh and Manipur shows border regions with large minority populations being treated as politically dispensable — deepening alienation and risking spillover instability
• Concern flagged: Delimitation in J&K is seen as reworking political arithmetic before Statehood; a promise made to the Court, Parliament and the people cannot be held hostage to political expediency

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 — Federalism, Union Territories vs Statehood, role of Lieutenant Governor, Centre-State relations, and asymmetric federalism in border regions

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Statehood-to-UT reorganisation of J&K followed the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019
• A UT with legislature (like J&K/Delhi/Puducherry) has an LG with significant discretionary powers over police and public order
• Article 3 empowers Parliament to alter areas/boundaries and to form new States and re-form a State from a UT

🔑 Key Term: Statehood restoration — reconverting a Union Territory back into a full State, restoring an elected government's control over subjects (like police, land) currently reserved to the Centre via the LG