_at_Lal_Chowk_Srinagar,_Kashmir.jpg){kind=link}
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said at a press conference in Srinagar on 11 October 2026 that statehood could be restored to Jammu and Kashmir in the near future, according to Greater Kashmir and other outlets. He said that the final decision on timing rests with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and that he could not announce a timeline.
His words, as quoted by Greater Kashmir, were: ‘After the abrogation of Article 370, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji had given this assurance that statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be restored. And it can definitely be decided after a few days.’ The phrase ‘after a few days’ is not a date, and Athawale’s statement is the opinion of a minister of state and not an announcement by the government.
Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (Athawale), a partner in the National Democratic Alliance, said that Modi and Shah were fully aware of the commitment and that the government would consider the issue, according to the report. He noted that the Centre had earlier committed in Parliament to restoring statehood at an appropriate time.
The statement came two weeks after the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly passed a resolution on 28 September 2026 seeking the immediate restoration of full statehood. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and BJP legislators walked out during the vote, according to ETV Bharat, The Statesman and National Herald. Athawale spoke 13 days after the resolution, a count by IndiaX24 from 28 September to 11 October.
The BJP’s objection was to the content and not to the demand for statehood. The party opposed the references in the resolution to the 2000 autonomy resolution and to the special status resolution of November 2024, while maintaining that it supports the restoration of full statehood, according to the reports. The reports reviewed do not carry the full text of either set of references.
Omar Abdullah reminded the Centre of what he called an unfulfilled promise, according to The Statesman’s headline. IndiaX24 has reported on the Assembly’s passage of the resolution and on Abdullah’s first cabinet reshuffle in separate articles. The reports reviewed for this article do not carry Abdullah’s reaction to Athawale’s remarks.
Athawale also urged Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism and said that development initiatives must reach people at the grassroots, according to Greater Kashmir. Those remarks are not related to the statehood question and are reported only for completeness.
The timeline is short and easy to follow. The Assembly resolution was passed on 28 September, Athawale spoke on 11 October, and as of 16 October the reports reviewed do not carry any announcement from the Prime Minister or the Home Minister. The Union Minister is not part of the group that takes the decision, since he holds the rank of a minister of state, and his comments are therefore a signal of the mood in the coalition and not a decision of the Union cabinet. That reading is IndiaX24’s.
Statehood was withdrawn when Article 370 was abrogated in 2019 and the region was divided into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which is general background that is not part of the reports above. IndiaX24 will report when the government announces a decision or a timetable.
Image: The Ghanta Ghar clock tower at Lal Chowk, Srinagar (file photo). Photo by ThePoeticFrame, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.