The National Conference’s protest in New Delhi turned out to be less of a political storm and more of a gentle breeze that barely ruffled even the newspapers. While students elsewhere were keeping the national media busy, tragic events in the Pir Panchal region dominated the local newspapers. It was almost as if the day itself had conspired to keep the protest on Kashmir low-key. 

On social media, however, the protest made its presence felt. Between unfiltered group selfies and cheerful head pops, it looked less like a political agitation and more like a bus ride to a school picnic. The contrast between the stated purpose and the visual narrative was difficult to miss.No matter how it was positioned or perceived, the protest led by National Conference in New Delhi will not be a milestone on the road to statehood. Such protests are a relatively conventional political gesture easily contained within the familiar grammar of opposition posturing. 

The enacted theatre of the protest is not where the decisive politics lies. The realpolitik is unfolding in the measured reluctance, internal deliberations, and outright criticism from other Valley-centric parties. The refusal to join the protest has deeper implications on how the restoration process could pan out. The protest may fill the square, but it is the non-participation, that defines the actual field of play. 

The absence of almost all Valley-centric parties transformed the protest from a potential show of regional unity into a display of fragmentation and intra-Valley contestations over political positioning. Even the National Conference appears to have viewed this as a setback, if the post-protest press conference of its Vice President is any indication. For the Bharatiya Janata Party, this is not just a positive development but an encouraging one.To protest but not participate functions less as a question of democratic expression and more as a strategic filter. Those who declined to join (or made their........

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