Mainstream political parties in the Kashmir Valley took to the streets on Tuesday to mark six years since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.
The National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress staged demonstrations at their respective headquarters in Srinagar.
A large number of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed at the PDP’s headquarters, where party president Mehbooba Mufti led the protest. “August 5 is a black day” and “Restore Article 370 and 35A” were among the placards that made an appearance.
“The people have assembled here (at the office), and outside the gate, thousands of police and security forces are deployed,” Mufti told mediapersons. “This tells you the story of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.”
In a post on X, Mufti wrote, “August 5 is not just a black day for but for the entire nation. On this day, the Constitution was subverted not by foreign hands, but from within, by a brute majority in the heart of our democracy. The unconstitutional abrogation of J&K’s special status was not an end; it was the beginning of a broader assault on constitutional values.”
“J&K was turned into a laboratory… its people disempowered, its land dispossessed, its demography targeted. What many saw as a local issue was a warning for all. Today, that warning is unfolding across the country. In Bihar, SIR threatens to disenfranchise lakhs. From Tamil Nadu to Kashmir, non-local voters are being added en masse, paving the way for demographic manipulation and electoral distortion. If India does not wake up now, what began in J&K will soon define the nation.”
The National Conference also staged a protest at Nawai Subh, the party headquarters in Srinagar, demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood.
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Calling August 5 a “black day,” Congress workers gathered at their headquarters in Srinagar and raised slogans such as “Return our rights.”
Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone posted on X: “August 5 will always be a brutal reminder of the undermining of democracy. And an ugly example of selective targeting. This was the day when whatever little was left from the glories of the past was taken away. I will never lose hope. We will get what has been taken away. If the glories don’t last, the inglorious won’t last either.”
