The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), led by party president Farooq Abdullah, on Monday staged a protest in New Delhi, demanding the immediate restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declaring that the agitation marked “only the beginning” of the party’s struggle.

Senior NC leaders, ministers, MLAs and workers had begun arriving in the national capital on Sunday to participate in the demonstration, which coincided with the opening day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session. The Congress, an alliance partner of the NC, also joined the protest.

On Monday morning, NC leaders and workers assembled at Jammu and Kashmir House on Prithviraj Road before marching towards Jantar Mantar carrying placards reading “Restore Full Statehood”, “Apna Wada Pura Karo” and “Restore Rights and Dignity of the People of J&K”. The protest, however, was overshadowed by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) march to Parliament, which led to heavy security deployment and traffic restrictions across central Delhi.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who arrived in Delhi from Jammu on Monday morning, alleged that police prevented the NC leaders from reaching Jantar Mantar and later stopped them near the Constitution Club, where the party had planned to hold a seminar on statehood.

“We were stopped from protesting peacefully for what is rightfully ours, but we were not silenced,” Omar said in a post on X.

“This is only the beginning of our struggle for statehood, our rights, our dignity and everything that was taken away from us,” he added.

Addressing reporters, Omar said the Centre had “forced us to come to Delhi and protest in the capital of our own country.”

“For the past two years, we have been reminding the Central Government of the promises it made. We have only asked for the commitments given to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

He alleged that police used tear gas to disperse protesters near the Constitution Club. “Here, along with others, we too were targeted with tear gas. We came to remind the Government of the promises made before Parliament, the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the Supreme Court regarding the restoration of statehood,” he said.

His son, Zamir Abdullah, also alleged on X that the “draconian and repressive tool of tear gas” would not weaken the party’s resolve to fight for the rights and dignity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah urged the Centre to honour its commitment to restore statehood, saying the promise had been made repeatedly by the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.

J&K Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary described it as the “misfortune of the people of Jammu and Kashmir” that they had to come to Delhi to remind the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of their assurances.

The NC also shared a social media post highlighting Farooq Abdullah’s participation in the march despite recently losing his younger brother, saying the 90-year-old leader was leading the movement to restore the dignity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Back in Jammu and Kashmir, NC workers held demonstrations at several places in support of the party’s demand for the restoration of full statehood.