Srinagar: The National Conference (NC) seems to have landed in a difficult spot after allegedly backtracking on its promise of bringing a resolution in the first convention of the Union territory’s assembly against the Union government’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ahead of the assembly election, the party’s vice-president Omar Abdullah, who is set to become the first chief minister of the Union territory, had said that the J&K assembly in its first sitting would “pass a resolution against the Centre’s decision to strip the region of its statehood and special status”.
In an interview with NDTV in August this year, Abdullah said: “The first order of business of the elected assembly of J&K should be to make it known not just to the rest of India but to the world at large that the people of J&K don’t agree with what happened to us on August 5, 2019.”
“The Jammu and Kashmir assembly, in its first order of business after elections, will pass a resolution against the centre’s decision to strip the region of its statehood and special status,” he told India Today.
However, a day after the NC emerged the single largest party in J&K with 42 seats, Abdullah’s remarks on Wednesday (October 9) that his government would pass a resolution to “demand the restoration of J&K’s statehood in its very first cabinet meeting” prompted a flurry of speculation that the party was walking back on its promise.
Later, Abdullah clarified to The Mojo Story that the legislative agenda of the assembly was “going to be determined closer to a legislative session”.
“The first and overwhelming priority of this government would be to press for restoration of statehood,” he said.
Abdullah could not be reached for comment.
A senior aide of the former J&K chief minister told The Wire: “The assembly hasn’t met, so where is the question of backtracking?”
Senior NC leader and former finance minister of J&K, Abdul Rahim Rather, denied that the party had a change of heart after the election result was announced.
“There’s no question of going back [on J&K’s special status]. The restoration of Article 370 and Article 35-A is part of our election manifesto and we will continue to fight for it,” Rather told The Wire.
Autonomy and Sheikh
Founded in 1932 as the All J&K Muslim Conference by Sheikh Abdullah – whose politics was trapped between secularism and religion – with president of the Muslim Conference Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas as its first general secretary, the NC’s political ideology rests on J&K’s autonomy.
Many historians and critics have pointed out that the Indira-Sheikh Accord in 1975 further watered down J&K’s unique constitutional status, which had been hollowed out by successive Union and regional governments before the Modi government scrapped it entirely in 2019.
After spending many years in jail and the ‘new political realities’ spawned by the humiliating defeat of Pakistan in the 1971 war filling him with a sense of uncertainty, the NC’s founder resumed his political career as the first chief minister of J&K.
Under Article 370, J&K had its own prime minister and sadr–e–riyasat, as well as its own flag and constitution. In 1946, Sheikh Abdullah had launched the ‘Quit Kashmir’ movement against Dogra rule, following which he was thrown into jail.
Over the years, however, the party has held on to the ideology of ‘autonomy’ and special status for J&K. The issue of ‘special status’ finds mention in the NC’s 2024 election manifesto also along with the implementation of the autonomy resolution, which was passed by the J&K assembly in 2000 and binned by the NDA government.
As the first assembly elections in the Union territory were underway, the loss of J&K’s unique status echoed in the election campaigns of most regional parties who were in the polling fray, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Peoples Conference (PC).
The Union government’s unilateral move to read down Article 370 on August 5, 2019 and bifurcate J&K into two Union territories also mattered to voters across dozens of electoral constituencies in Kashmir, who spoke about their opposition to the Union government’s decision, terming it an assault on J&K’s identity.
New reality
However, the NC’s alliance with the Congress seems to have landed the party in a difficult position. There are rumours that the government led by Omar Abdullah would want to strike a conciliatory tone in the beginning of a new relationship with the Union government led by the BJP.
After his party’s electoral victory in the assembly election, Abdullah also spoke about the necessity of having a “smooth” relationship with the Union government, raising doubts about the NC’s intentions and its commitment to J&K’s special status.
Some political commentators believe that the mandate won by the NC has put Abdullah and his party under an obligation to make official the opposition of the people of J&K to the 2019 decision.
With 42 seats in its kitty, the assembly election demonstrated that the party has support in all parts of J&K except the Hindu belt of Jammu comprising Kathua, Jammu, Samba and Udhampur, which was swept by the BJP.
“There is no better occasion to bring a resolution on the issue that the first sitting of the assembly,” said a Srinagar-based author and political commentator who didn’t want to be identified.
They added that the Congress could become a liability for the NC in the future, given that the party, which won only six seats (five of them in Kashmir), did not contribute much electorally to the alliance.
“With its vote share in J&K, it seems that the NC would have done better than the Congress had it fielded its own candidates on some constituencies instead of supporting Congress candidates as part of its seat-sharing arrangement with the national party.”
Speculation is also rife that the Congress could be exerting pressure on Abdullah’s party, an INDIA bloc partner, to avoid any controversy on Article 370, which could have implications for the party at the national level, with the crucial assembly elections in Maharashtra due by November this year.
A senior political analyst, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Article 370 was a “metaphor for special status”, adding that the latter held a wider promise, given how “useless” Article 370 had become in practice over the years.
“If you tell the Congress that they have to support the restoration of Article 370, the party will never agree. In present times, there is also a sense that people in wider India might not agree with such a move. But if you tell the Congress that they have to vote for special securities for J&K, for the right of its people to protect their land, resources, livelihood and identity, that is easier to say yes to,” he said.
