Anil Anand
As former Congress veteran, Ghulam Nabi Azad unfolded agenda of his yet to be floated new political party, while on his maiden tour to Jammu and Kashmir in his new avtar, the caution, care and measured words which he used to unveil his charter explained his predicament and attempt at a tightrope walk. For an opener he avoided all controversial issues and instead tried to project a balanced, development-oriented agenda with thrust to carry the diverse Jammu and Kashmir regions along which otherwise have many areas of disagreement.
A seasoned campaigner Mr Azad seemed fully aware about the cross-connections between the two regions, varied perceptions on different issues including the partial abrogation of Article 370 that took away special status from erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and demoting it to Union Territory (UT). Apart from the diversities and the need for a critical balance on key issues, his caution has to be viewed in the backdrop of his “harmonious” relations with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
The index of how he proposed to move forward could be seen in his address to a capacity crowd on his arrival at Jammu and in series of subsequent interactions with different sections of the society. Expectedly, he shied away from making a direct reference to Article 370 in terms of its total restoration to avoid being trapped in a war of perception between the two regions. Instead, he took a circuitous route to connect with the sentiments prevailing on two sides of the Jawahar Tunnel, demarcating the two regions, by picking up on non-controversial and issues of common agreement.
Given the fact that there is a strong sentiment in Kashmir for restoration of Article 370 and a mixed feeling in Jammu region with a predominant view in the Hindu belt for status quo in its present form, Mr Azad in the very beginning of his second innings had a tough act to perform. Although he did it in his own way in accordance with his style to stay away from controversies by choosing a mid-path, but this issue is going to haunt him in the days to come.
In -fact he has picked up equally sensitive, from the point of view of public perception, issue of reversion to statehood as his main plank which otherwise was the direct fall-out of the dilution of Article 370 and related State Reorganization Act as passed by the Parliament on August 5, 2019 leading to J&K being demoted as a Union Territory. Apart from this as part of his key agenda he sought to project the statehood demand with protection of land and employment rights for local domiciles which is a common refrain in the two regions.
Depending on how Mr Azad moves forward on this count and how his rivals, BJP in Jammu and Dr Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference in Kashmir region succeed or fail in cornering him on Article 370- BJP will take him on if he is forced to demand return to original position and National Conference and others of the ilk could question him if he sticks to his present position.
Primarily, the basic foundation of Mr Azad’s political outfit will be based on these three issues with restoration of Article 370 hanging like a Damocles sword over his head. These issues will precipitate once he completes tour of the entire UT particularly the Kashmir Valley, after which he will also have a fair idea about the people’s sentiments and reaction to the limited agenda he announced. Despite murmurs about his “closeness to the Centre” and not directly taking up the Article 370 issue, by and large his opening visit has by and large gone smoothly and evoked a good response.
Mr Azad’s tagline of “Better J&K” with an all-encompassing agenda touching all sections of the society through a greater focus on their bread-and-butter issues rather than the political and emotive problems, is if realistic but also explains the crisis in the back of his mind. In this connection the prominence accorded by him to the issues related to the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community particularly in the light of recent spate of targeted killings of the community members, coupled with his reference to the human rights violations in the UT, exhibited a carefully crafted idiom to strike a critical balance.
The fact that Mr Azad’s own support base (or that of his erstwhile Congress party) is in Jammu region, he did not lose sight of the ongoing social developments in the area, more so those related to the last Dogra ruler of J&K the erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh who made his state part of Independent India. There is an ongoing agitation demanding a public holiday on his September 23 birthday.
Sensing that the issue has a different connotation in Kashmir and that its sensitivity (the demand for a holiday) has different measures in the two regions of the UT, Mr Azad chose a rather safe passage rather than ignoring the issue lest he was misunderstood by people in Jammu. Supporting the demand for the holiday has a different and a “negative” historic perspective from Kashmir’s point of view and total silence on Maharaja Hari Singh would have a different fall-out in Jammu particularly when the scene is hot.Mr Azad seemed fully aware of this trap and treaded cautiously. It is another matter that ruling BJP (at the Centre and through Lt Governor’s administration in J&K) had been in the fore-front demanding holiday on his birthday but is now at the receiving end for not fulfilling the commitment.
So, the midway found by Mr Azad on this count is making a strong reference to the Maharaja’s contribution and profusely praising him for having introduced land and job safeguards way back in 1930 via introduction of domicile laws that continued under Article 370 after Independence till August 5, 2019. This has to be seen in the backdrop of strong sentiment prevailing in both the diverse regions regarding protection of their land and employment rights to prevent outsiders from eating into their share or leading to the demographic changes.
The acid test for Mr Azad will be on how he is able to carry the diverse public sentiment in two regions and among different strata of the society, along on these sensitive issues. The political rivals of all varieties will be gnawing at him to force him take a clear stand on contentious matters particularly Article 370.
Will he be able to withstand the populist pressures and make his developmental agenda including safeguarding the domicile rights short of return to Article 370, acceptable in the two regions? His stature and total leadership void in the non-BJP spectrum of polity in Jammu region, and lack of alternative to Dr Abdullah in Kashmir with BJP finding hard to find its feet in the Valley, is a silverlining for Mr Azad.
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