India’s two most senior opposition leaders, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have written a joint letter dated 16 July to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging his government to introduce legislation in the forthcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament to restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The pair argued that residents have sought the reversal ever since the former state was downgraded to a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 and its bifurcation on 5 August 2019. They cited assurances the government gave the Supreme Court and Modi’s own public statements—most recently a 19 May 2024 interview and a 19 September 2024 rally—promising statehood would be reinstated "at the earliest". Kharge and Gandhi also called for a separate bill to place neighbouring Ladakh under the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule, which grants greater autonomy to tribal regions, saying the measure would protect the territory’s cultural and land rights. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah welcomed the appeal, saying statehood had been repeatedly promised. The government has not yet indicated whether it will add the proposed bills to the Monsoon Session agenda, which opens on 21 July.