Rajan Gandhi
The recent collapse of PDP-BJP Government has once again brought in focus the fragile politics of our strategic state. Unlike other states, Jammu and Kashmir’s transition to democracy wasn’t smooth right from independence as UNSC’s 47th resolution of 1948 was never honoured by Pakistan and till date we have not been able to untangle. Unlike other states, our state was not to be governed by central laws though on 26th January 1950 the Constitution of India came into effect – under Article 1 the entire state of J&K became a part of the territory of India and Article 370, gave a special status to our State. The general council of the All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference — the foremost political party in the state — passed a resolution on October, 27 1950 for constitution of Constituent Assembly. The Constituent State Assembly was constituted by elected representatives of the people of the state with each constituency containing population of 40,000 or as near as possible. Almost all 75 seats (Kashmir 43 seats, Ladakh 2 seats and Jammu 30 seats) of the Constituent Assembly were won by the NC as the Jammu based Praja Parishad demanded a complete accession to India and as such boycotted the election thereby missing the bus never to catch again as without any representation in assembly or cabinet Jammu’s concerns were never considered and taken care of.
In 1952 Kashmiri leaders (NC) discussed Centre/State relations with the Central Government and arrived at an arrangement known as the ‘Delhi Agreement’. Sensing the change in stance of Sheikh Abdullah of complete independence which was never part of his commitment to either Nehru or Maharaja Hari Singh , on 8th August 1953 Sheikh Abdullah, Wazir-e- Azam of J&K was dismissed by the Sadr-e-Riyasat on the charge that he had lost the confidence of his cabinet , he was denied the opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the house and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed as Wazir-e- Azam . Neither union with Pakistan nor complete independence was the desire of the then people of J&K as on 15th February 1954, 64 of the assembly members who were present that day castes a unanimous vote ratifying the state’s accession to India even as the towering Sheikh Abdullah was in jail, accused of allegedly conspiring against the state known as ‘Kashmir Conspiracy’.
Mere accession to India was not enough for the people of J&K as there was a legal hitch to a fuller, more integral bonding as Indian constitution was not applicable directly to J & K .To overcome this hurdle, on 29th September 1956, The Constitution Drafting Comm-ittee presented a draft to the Constituent Assembly which was adopted on November 17th, 1956. Section 3 in that Constitution clearly stated, ‘The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India’ and was immune from any amendment at any time. On 26th January 1957 Constituent Assembly was dissolved and the J&K’s Constitution came into effect. Thus in March 1957, ten years after independence – yes ten years, first elections for the assembly with state constitution in place were conducted and in 1959 State Assembly unanimously amended State constitution for the extension of the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India and Supreme Court over the J&K State.
Second General elections in J&K were held in 1962 with NC getting 70 seats and 65% voters casted their ballot. In April 1964 the “Kashmir Conspiracy Case” was withdrawn unconditionally and Sheikh Abdullah was released. On 21st December 1964 Article 356 of Constitution of India was extended to J & K by virtue of which President’s Rule could be imposed in the event of the failure of State constitution in future. On 10th April 1965 the nomenclature of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e- Azam were also changed to Governor and Chief Minister in the State Constitution. Sheikh Abdullah was externed from the State as on 6th June 1965 formal merger of the NC with Congress took place. In March 1967, Third Assembly elections were held with Congress securing 61 seats followed by the NC (Bakshi) with 8 seats. Dance of democracy went on unabated as on 8th February 1972 Fourth Legislative Assembly elections were held with Congress securing 58 seats and Jamaat-e-Islami, contesting elections for the first time, won 5 seats. With Pakistan’s defeat in 1971 war Sheikh Abdullah reconciled to the factual position and on 13th November 1974 ‘Kashmir Accord’ was signed between Sheikh Abdullah and Mrs. Indira Gandhi (Beg-Parthasarthy Accord). Then came, our PM Indira Gandhi’s famous statement ‘Clock can’t be put back’ and subsequently on behalf of the Kashmiri leadership the NC reiterated that the accession of the State of J&K is not an issue anymore. Subsequently on 25th February 1975 Sheikh Abdullah took over as the Chief Minister with the support of Congress but on 16th March 1977 Congress-I withdrew support to Sheikh Abdullah’s Government. On 17th March 1977 Governor’s rule was imposed in J&K and subsequently on 3rd July 1977 Fifth Assembly elections were held. National Conference secured 44 seats, followed by the Janta Party with 13 seats and Congress-I with 11 seats. In between PM Indira Gandhi had brought the infamous 42nd Amendment (1976) of the Indian constitution simply to defer elections to Parliament as well as state legislatures, the then J-K Government headed by Sheikh Abdullah was quick to adopt the Center’s Amendment extending Assembly’s term from 5 to 6 years, however it conveniently turned a blind eye to the Center’s legislation to restore the term back to 5 years. As a result till today, the J-K Assembly term continues to be of 6 years ever since the 1977 elections.
Following Sheikh Abdullah’s death in 1982, Dr. Farooq Abdullah was sworn in as the new CM and Sixth Assembly elections were held in 1983. Dr. Farooq Abdullah formed the new Government with 46 seats but on 2nd July 1984 he was dismissed by Governor Jagmohan after revolt of 12 MLAs and G.M. Shah became CM as Awami National Conference was formed. After unprecedented communal disturbances that jolted the Kashmir Valley in February 1986 G.M. Shah Government was dismissed and Governor’s rule was again imposed. In November 1986 coalition Government (Cong-I/NCF) was formed following Rajiv-Farooq accord. On 23rd March 1987 seventh State Assembly elections were held. NC secured 40 seats followed by Congress-I with 26 seats. Following arrival of militancy in Kashmir, Jagmohan again took over as Governor and Farooq Government resigned. Two more Governors governed state after Jagmohan was recalled back as Moulvi Farooq was gunned down by terrorists and during that tenure on 27th May 1990 a memorandum by 137 senior state officers to the international forum pleading for international intervention was also submitted.
After Chief Election Commissioner directed for revision of state electoral rolls, Delimitation Commission in 1995 increased the number of Legislative Assembly seats from 75 to 87. Meanwhile after prolonged Governor’s rule in September 1996 Eighth assembly elections were held and Farooq Abdullah with 59 seats was sworn in as CM once again. In 2002, ninth assembly elections were held, newly formed PDP (16 seats) outwitted NC(28 seats) with the help of Congress 20 seats and others including 13 independents formed government with rotational CM – Mufti for first three years and Azad for next three years. In 2008 NC (28 seats) again formed the Government with the support of congress 17 seats. PDP got 21 and BJP 11 with a turnout 60.5 % and finally in 2014 PDP got 28, BJP 25, INC 12, NC 15 and PDP with support of BJP formed the Government.
Since independence, the dance of democracy has not been an easy affair in Jammu and Kashmir as at every available opportunity politicians have ditched the voters for their own reasons. Interestingly NC, Congress and PDP have primarily ruled the state till date and leaders of these three parties were part of each other at one time or other – merger of NC – Congress , formation of PDP by Mufti who himself was from Congress , Soz shuttling between Congress and NC , Ansari between NC – PDP and the list goes on and on. Despite lakhs of crores of exchequers money spent in the name of development, people’s resentment is obvious. With Kashmir facing unprecedented terrorism, Jammu division is equally disillusioned with their leaders, it seems during last seventy years ground situation hasn’t changed a lot. The secessionist seed earlier sown by Plebiscite Front and later by Pakistan has ruined the state and instead of focus on creating jobs, infrastructure and other development works, every successive Government has put its resources to tackle law and order situation. Circle of death is continuous and so is alienation of masses, in Kashmir due to turbulence and in Jammu due to discrimination. Our leaders have failed on both fronts and again Governor along with army has been assigned the job to save the situation. No doubt they will succeed this time also but when will our politicians learn to rise above the petty issues and stand for nation united is anybody’s guess.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”
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