The Congress on Monday expressed “disappointment” over the Supreme Court’s reluctance to decide on the dismemberment of Jammu and Kashmir, and said it respectfully disagreed with the judgment on how Article 370 was abrogated.

However, the party contested the propaganda that it intended to restore Article 370 to the Constitution.

Addressing the media for the party, senior leaders and lawyers P. Chidambaram and Abhishek Singhvi said everyone was bound by the court verdict.

The emphasis was on immediate restoration of statehood and the conduct of elections.

Singhvi said: “For how long does the central government intend to rule the state by remote control? What’s the fear? There is a contradiction in the Supreme Court verdict. While it says they won’t decide on the validity of the decision to break the state into Union Territories, declaring it an open case, they justified the declaration of Ladakh as a Union Territory.”

Explaining the contradiction, Singhvi said: “Under Article 3 of the Constitution, the Centre can carve out a portion of the state as a Union Territory. But you can’t reduce the entire state to different Union Territories. The Supreme Court refused to go into this because of an assurance that the statehood would be restored. This is a constitutional anomaly. The statehood could have been restored by now. People want democracy, not autocracy. You have strangled the democratic impulses of the people.”

Singhvi said the Modi government need not wait for the outer limit set by the Supreme Court — September 24 — for holding elections because the state has not seen an elected government for a long time. He also pointed to the abnormal unemployment rate of 18 per cent in Kashmir, apart from other economic indicators suggesting a downslide.

Chidambaram also countered the Centre’s claim of improved security by underlining that terror attacks and killings of security force personnel and civilians continued.

Arguing that the detailed judgment needed careful examination, Chidambaram said: “The judgment in the cases concerning the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution has decided many issues but has left open some issues that are also vitally important. It has also held as ultra vires the manner in which Article 367 was invoked to amend part of Article 370. Prima facie, we respectfully disagree with the judgment on the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated.”

Reiterating the resolution passed at the Congress working committee after the removal of Article 370 in Parliament, Chidambaram said: “Article 370 deserved to be honoured until it was amended strictly in accordance with the Constitution of India. We are also disappointed that the Supreme Court did not decide the question of dismembering the state and reducing its status to two Union Territories. That question has been reserved for adjudication in a suitable case in the future.”

He added: “The Congress has always demanded the restoration of full statehood for what has become the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. We welcome the Supreme Court’s verdict in this regard. Full statehood must be restored immediately. The aspirations of the people of Ladakh must also be fulfilled. We welcome the court’s direction to hold Assembly elections. However, we believe that the elections should be held immediately and there is no reason to wait until 30.09.2024. Since accession, Jammu & Kashmir was —and is — an integral part of India. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are Indian citizens. We reiterate our resolve to work for the security, peace, development and progress of Jammu and Kashmir.”