Srinagar, J & K : The ruling National Conference (NC) unleashed a massive protest wave across Srinagar on Wednesday, as party leaders, legislators, and workers flooded the streets to hammer home their demand for the immediate restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and its constitutional safeguards.

Organized amid escalating political warfare with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the demonstration drew thousands of NC supporters who massed in the city and launched a march toward the BJP’s Jawahar Nagar headquarters.

Chanting thunderous slogans for statehood, protesters accused New Delhi of stalling on a promise that NC leaders insist was made after the region’s reorganization.

But the march hit a police wall near Jawahar Nagar, where security forces threw up barricades and blocked the route to prevent any face off between rival party cadres. Heavy police deployment locked down sensitive spots across Srinagar as authorities moved to contain the rising political temperature.

NC legislators and senior figures on the front lines declared that statehood is no mere political bargaining chip it is a non negotiable democratic and constitutional right of every Kashmiri.

They hammered the Centre for repeatedly signaling that statehood would be restored, while offering no timeline or action.

The protest also zeroed in on what the NC calls an urgent need to protect the states constitutional integrity. Party leaders stressed that the people have already delivered their democratic mandate in the Assembly elections, and they now hold the Centre accountable to honor its own commitments on the states political future.

This high stakes mobilization unfolds against a backdrop of sharpening friction between the NC-led government and the BJP.

Both sides are trading blistering accusations the NC hammering the BJP over broken promises, while the BJP targets Omar Abdullah’s administration for governance failures and unfulfilled pledges.

Wednesday’s rival demonstrations turned large swaths of Srinagar into a political battleground with police reinforcements and barricades transforming the streets into a fortress.

Yet NC leaders vowed to press on with their democratic, non-violent campaign until statehood is unequivocally restored.

With statehood now dominating Jammu and Kashmir’s post-2024 political landscape, today’s protest is poised to further escalate the ruling party’s bare knuckle contest with the BJP raising the stakes for both sides in a region watching every move.

Report By – Mudasir Maqbool