3 min readJammuAug 18, 2026 04:33 PM IST First published on: Aug 18, 2026 at 04:33 PM ISTBJP workers, led by party MPs and MLAs, on Monday marched to the Civil Secretariat from different parts of Jammu city on Monday, accusing the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) government of having failed on all fronts in Jammu and Kashmir.The leaders said that instead of actually working on the ground, NC continues to raise the issue of statehood.AdvertisementThough Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders warned of similar protests in future if “the government did not perform”, local supporters of the party described Monday’s protest as “a dismal show of strength” by the party, which boasts of 29 of 45 MLAs elected from Jammu division.Estimating the number of protesters at 1,000-2,000, a local businessman, who claims to be a BJP supporter, said, “Had all the 29 elected party MLAs and four MPs brought only 500 supporters each with them, the number of participants would have swelled to more than 10,000.”However, political observers said it is the very issue of statehood that could be a reason behind the poor showing at the protest. They said, on the condition of anonymity, that there was resentment among people over the delay in restoration of statehood and the fact that most of the important positions across the Jammu division were being filled by non-local officers.AdvertisementThough local BJP leaders have been reassuring people of restoration of statehood “at an appropriate time’’, as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, ruling NC, Congress and the PDP have been insisting on a timeline for it.Must Read | 70% quota in jobs: Why Omar Abdullah warned of ‘Gen-Z trend spilling over’ to J&KThe issue of statehood even found prominence in the Independence Day address of Jammu and Kashmir’s Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary who, while renewing the demand for restoration of statehood, said there was “pain and anguish among the people who feel that they are not being given their rightful and respectful place’’ in the administration.Without naming outsiders, he said local “professors and doctors have not got their due share of placement to top positions in all the universities, IIM and IIT across Jammu province.” He said, “Local people do not get their due share of employment even in the industries set up in the region. This is a matter of grave concern and needs to be given attention.”Local BJP leaders, according to political observers, have not been able to successfully counter the NC’s pitch for statehood on the ground that though an elected government is in place, the overall executive control and final decision-making power vests with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha in view of Jammu and Kashmir being a Union Territory.you may likeMeanwhile, Monday’s protest saw BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Sat Sharma, Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma, and Leader of the Opposition in the J&K Assembly Sunil Sharma leading different groups.Raising slogans against the NC-Congress alliance in the UT, the protesters burnt the effigy of the government and demanded resignation of Chief Minister Abdullah on grounds of “large-scale corruption” and “failure on all fronts”.They said the government was deliberately raising the issue of statehood to divert people’s attention from its failures.