India, Feb. 17 -- The absence of a single word, 'statehood'from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's recent address to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly reignited one of the most emotive political questions in the Union Territory. It is now more than six years after the revocation of Article 370 that granted J&K its special constitutional status, and the region was downgraded from a state.

Sinha's speech, delivered at the start of the budget session, projected optimism and institutional normalcy, describing the past year as a "significant milestone in the democratic journey of Jammu and Kashmir with the formation of an elected government after a gap of several years". But for opposition parties and even for the ruling National Conference (NC),...