Indian MP Raises Voice for Kashmir Rights, Demands Restoration of Article 370 in CJP Protest

A Member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir has called for the restoration of Article 370, telling a New Delhi protest that the region’s statehood question cannot be separated from reinstating the constitutional provision revoked in 2019.

National Conference MP Agha Syed Ruhullah Mehdi made the remarks addressing a demonstration organized by the Cockroach Janata Party at Jantar Mantar, according to Kashmir Media Service.

Mehdi said the constitutional rights and identity of Jammu and Kashmir’s people must be restored, arguing that any struggle for justice remains incomplete without reinstating Article 370 — the provision that granted the region special autonomous status before India’s government revoked it on August 5, 2019, followed by the territory’s bifurcation into two union territories.

He urged protesters to continue their peaceful, democratic push for constitutional and political rights, framing the demand as a matter of ensuring citizens’ voices are heard within India’s democratic system rather than as a separatist grievance. Mehdi drew an explicit parallel between the grievances of students at the protest and the broader situation in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging the region’s people have experienced years of political and constitutional changes imposed without their consent.

The protest itself began over irregularities in India’s NEET medical entrance examination and broader student concerns about education system failures, before expanding to encompass wider political demands, including calls related to Article 370 and Kashmir’s political rights. That expansion illustrates how the CJP-led student movement has evolved from a narrowly focused grievance over exam integrity into a platform absorbing other longstanding political disputes, with Kashmir’s status emerging as one thread within the broader protest.

Mehdi’s National Conference party has consistently called for Article 370’s restoration since 2019, positioning itself as the primary mainstream political voice for that demand within India’s parliamentary system, as opposed to separatist movements that reject engagement with Indian governance entirely. His appearance at a Delhi protest organized around an unrelated education grievance suggests Kashmir’s political parties are looking for opportunities to keep the statehood and autonomy question visible within broader national political conversations, rather than treating it as a stand-alone regional issue disconnected from mainland Indian political discourse.

The Indian government has maintained since 2019 that the abrogation of Article 370 was necessary for full integration and development of the region, a position that remains a matter of ongoing political and legal dispute rather than a settled question — cases challenging the abrogation have moved through India’s courts, with the Supreme Court upholding the move in a 2023 ruling while leaving open questions about eventual statehood restoration for Jammu and Kashmir.

Whether this renewed public attention to Article 370, arriving through a protest built around an unrelated grievance, generates any fresh political momentum will likely depend on how the broader student movement itself evolves and whether opposition parties continue amplifying Kashmir-related demands within it.