Avinash Azad
Amid the heated political debate over Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood resolution, a lesser-discussed chapter from the region’s political history has resurfaced: “eight BJP legislators had voted in favour of the National Conference government’s “greater autonomy” resolution in the J&K Legislative Assembly in June 2000.”
Senior journalist, Ahmed Ali Fayyaz, in a post on X, has highlighted the episode, recalling that the resolution was passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on “June 26, 2000”.
The issue has gained renewed attention after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah moved a resolution in the present Assembly seeking the “immediate restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir”. The resolution specifically refers to the Assembly’s resolutions of June 26, 2000 and November 6, 2024. The reference to the 2000 autonomy resolution triggered strong protests from BJP legislators in the House on Friday.
According to Fayyaz’s account, the 2000 resolution seeking restoration of greater autonomy was passed “unanimously”, with no member registering dissent or protest at the time of voting. He has listed eight BJP legislators who, according to his post, voted in favour of the resolution:
Lala Shiv Charan Gupta, Udhampur, Choudhary Piara Singh, Gandhinagar, Vaid Vishno Dutt, Jammu East, Hans Raj, Jammu West, Chuni Lal, Suchetgarh, Prem Lal, Hiranagar, Prithvi Chand, Chenani and Bali Bhagat, Ramban.
Fayyaz has also pointed out that sons of Lala Shiv Charan Gupta and Choudhary Piara Singh are currently serving as BJP MLAs in the J&K Assembly. The historical Assembly records available online also show BJP members, including Shiv Charan Gupta and Choudhary Piara Singh, participating in the detailed debate on the autonomy report. The records show that some BJP members had walked out during the debate, highlighting that the political discussion around the resolution was far from straightforward even though the resolution was ultimately adopted.
The National Conference government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah, had moved the autonomy resolution seeking restoration of greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir as it existed before August 1953.
The resolution sought a return to an arrangement under which the Union government’s jurisdiction over J&K was substantially narrower, with defence, external affairs and communications among the principal subjects with the Centre.
The then Assembly Speaker, Abdul Ahad Vakil, described the autonomy resolution as being as significant as the Delhi Agreement of 1952, according to Fayyaz’s account. The resolution was subsequently also passed by the J&K Legislative Council, as stated in the journalist’s post.
Fayyaz has drawn attention to another striking aspect of the episode. While the J&K Assembly had passed the autonomy resolution in 2000, the NDA government at the Centre rejected it in July that year. At the same time, the National Conference was a constituent of the NDA government, and Omar Abdullah served as a Union minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Council of Ministers.
That political history is now being revisited because Omar Abdullah, who is the Chief Minister of J&K, has moved the latest Assembly resolution seeking restoration of full statehood. The new resolution expressly recalls the Assembly’s 2000 and 2024 resolutions. In 2000, the debate was centred on “greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir”. In 2026, the immediate issue before the Assembly is the “restoration of full statehood”.
