CPI(M) Holds 13th State Conference in Jammu, Calls for Restoration of J&K’s Statehood

Jammu, Feb 18 -:- The Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jammu & Kashmir, concluded its two-day 13th State Conference in Jammu on February 18, with senior party leaders and hundreds of activists participating in the event. The conference witnessed fervent revolutionary slogans as CPI(M) members welcomed senior leaders Comrade Prakash Karat and Dr. Ashok Dhawale.
Inaugurating the open session, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat strongly criticized the Modi-led government for the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and its bifurcation into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019. Terming the move “unconstitutional,” he said it was a betrayal of the assurances given by national leaders to the people of J&K in 1947.
“Abolishing one state out of the existing 28 was a direct assault on India’s Constitution and federal structure,” Karat asserted. He emphasized that CPI(M) had organized nationwide protests against the decision and urged all secular and democratic forces to join the struggle for the restoration of J&K’s statehood.
Karat also took aim at the BJP and RSS, accusing them of threatening India’s secular ethos. He condemned the central government for allegedly curbing financial support to non-BJP-ruled states like Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, saying such actions hinder developmental progress.
Addressing the gathering, Dr. Ashok Dhawale, President of the All India Kisan Sabha and Polit Bureau member, slammed the government’s pro-corporate policies, which he said benefit a select few at the expense of the working class. He lauded the farmers’ struggle under the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which forced the government to withdraw the controversial farm laws after over a year of protests.
Senior CPI(M) leader and former J&K legislator M.Y. Tarigami denounced the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A, calling it a “brazen assault” on the constitutional rights of the people. He argued that the historic state of Jammu and Kashmir, shaped by Dogra rulers, was unjustly bifurcated, disregarding the aspirations of its people. Tarigami highlighted that the 1927 and 1932 land laws enacted by Maharaja Hari Singh, later incorporated as Article 35-A, were meant to safeguard J&K’s residents from outside encroachment—a protection dismantled by the BJP government.
Tarigami also raised concerns over the alarming unemployment rate in J&K and called for urgent measures to address it. He demanded the release of political prisoners and journalists, as well as the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants in the Valley. He urged secular and democratic forces across the country to unite in the struggle for restoring J&K’s constitutional rights and statehood.
During the conference, key resolutions were passed on democratic rights, civil liberties, unemployment, the National Education Policy, trade union rights, land laws, agriculture, horticulture, and the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants.
The event concluded with the election of a 23-member state committee, with Mohd. Abass Rather appointed as Secretary of the CPI(M) State Committee.