K N Pandita
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah played his cards dexterously during the assembly election. The election in the Kashmir region mostly hinges on a demand for the restoration of statehood and special status, including Articles 370 and 35-A.
Media persons interviewing the voters in Kashmir were told they voted for the restoration of “all that was snatched from their hands such as our rights, identity and personality”. The answer to the question that who had snatched it was “the outsiders”. Evidently, this was a doctored answer. But it reflects the deep divide.
For the reason of BJP having majority strength in the Parliament when the Reorganization Act was passed, and with the addition of a strong determination of the Union Government to enforce organizational change in J&K, the Gupkar Alliance had confined itself to only sporadic criticism of BJP Government as the pro-Hindu rightist Government but avoided instigating masses for massive rallies against the abrogation of special status.
Hindsight shows that contrary to apprehensions of violent mass reaction to the scrapping of special status, nothing of the sort happened. More surprising is that despite the unanimous resolution passed at the meeting of the Gupkar Alliance, there was no big or small anti-India demonstration in the valley.
Kashmir leadership and its broad majority community deserve kudos for skilfully mesmerizing the NDA Government into feigned peace and tranquillity in the state. This feigned peace was a trick. The hiatus provided time to surreptitiously dump weapons and ammunition at specific hideouts at numerous places right from Kishtwar northwards to Trehgam in Kupwara district. This meticulous planning entailed gargantuan secrecy and most meticulous coordination among the ISI agents, the jihadist volunteers and local networks for providing logistical support.
But valley’s top dissident leadership kept harping on the old mantra to keep the pot simmering. Farooq Abdullah partnered with the INDI Alliance essentially to make the Alliance lament that everything has been snatched from the hands of Kashmiris. The lament became a refrain of Rahul Gandhi’s public addresses in and outside Kashmir.
The real face
The NDA Government walked straight into the trap which Congress bequeathed to it. Without trying to understand Kashmirian majority community psyche, they succumbed to the atrocious viewpoint of Nehru, who, commenting on Sheikh Abdullah’s betrayal had said ” hum Sheikh Sahib ko sone ki zanjeeron se bandh denge”(we will tie him down with the chains of gold).
In post-J&K Reorganization Act 2019, New Delhi poured billions of rupees into Kashmir in the name of development under various catchwords. The NDA Government began to believe that bringing economic prosperity and various other bonanzas would help Kashmiris distance themselves from their emotional overtures. Indian leadership took pride in declaring umpteen times on public platforms that there was a sea change in the thinking of the people, particularly the youth in Kashmir. They failed to understand what “takiya” meant for the Muslim youth.
What is the final outcome of all that rhetoric and plethora of propaganda? Let us be frank. BJP failed to win a single seat from the valley. The election results blew up BJP propaganda balloon. Not only that, the vast anti-dynastic rule propaganda of Modi Government tumbled down. One scion of a ruling dynasty has been catapulted to the prestigious position of the Leader of Opposition in the parliament and another scion has grabbed the position of Chief Minister.
It clearly leads to two important inferences, viz. the people in the valley solidly stand by the dynastic rule and they want only such democracy as will formally validate that dynastic rule.
Baramulla MP Constituency had voted out Omar Abdullah in parliamentary election for two important reasons. It was firstly to deny Omar any opportunity of joining the NDA Ministry (as he had done during Vajpayee Government) provided he won the parliamentary seat. Secondly, the candidate whom they voted in is a known Jamati-Islami diehard and pro-Pakistani activist, and hence, hugely acceptable.
Double Speak
Days before the election result was announced, Omar was heard telling press reporters that “special status was snatched from us by those who are still in power in New Delhi. Therefore, expecting that they will return us our property is “bewakufi” (foolhardiness). In the first meeting of the Cabinet, Omar managed to pass a resolution demanding that statehood be restored to Jammu and Kashmir. He rushed to New Delhi and handed over its copy to the PM and the HM.
In the assembly, not only the valley opposition MLAs but eve his own party MLAs expressed displeasure over the cabinet resolution for not unambiguously mentioning restoration of Articles 370 and 35-A and also the special status of the State. When a resolution of that content was passed by the assembly after bulldozing the opposition’s dissent, the house witnessed unprecedented ruckus for three consecutive days. 12 BJP MLAs were marshalled out as the group accused the Speaker of abusing his office by resorting to discriminative attitude. It has to be noted that the Speaker is the same person who had scripted the notorious Red Book in 1982 which was surreptitiously distributed among some MLAs but withdrawn within hours.
The three – day long ruckus in the assembly, the kind of insinuations exchanged by NC plus valley-based non NC members with the BJP MLAs, and the thinly concealed hostility of entire valley-based MLAs irrespective of party affiliation, all showed that only emotions were at work and logic was abandoned. The Peoples Conference leader Sajjad Lone together with five valley-based MLAs tabled a resolution that demanded abrogation of J&K Reorganization Act and revival of special status including Article 370 and 35-A calling the Reorganization Act “illegal and unconstitutional.”
Emotions without leash
Succumbing to the pressure of the Valley-based group of MLAs, the Chief Minister also shifted from his stand and made a public statement in a Ganderbal function that ” Through the voice of the Assembly we have conveyed to the world community what we want.”
This appears a very emotional and very dangerous statement for the state and the country. But such utterances, the Omar Abdullah led Government has opened not one but four fronts. These are against the Union Government and the Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Jammu region. The ground reality is that the Union Government has got the Reorganization Act passed by a majority vote in both Houses of the Parliament. Some NC and non-NC MLA’s from the valley said in their speeches that the SC had not delivered a right decision and they it did not heed the complaint of the people of Kashmir.
The confrontation with Jammu region MLAs, 29 of them, all belonging to BJP is a very unhealthy sign and weakens the NC-led Government. Twice during the session the Speaker ordered their marshalling out. They sat on the lawns and deliberated over the entire situation. They have come to a crucial decision which. If they resolve to translate into practice, that will lead to the extinction of the State. NC has to understand that democracy is made by majoritarianism but not run by it.
To sum up, perhaps the SC overplayed its role in ordering a deadline for election to J&K Assembly. Prudence demanded that protection of human life should precede protection of human right. The chief minister has given extremely dangerous signal by saying that through assembly “we have conveyed to the world community what we want.” He should not forget that through the assembly, he has conveyed to the world community something more than what he wants. He has also conveyed to the world community what Jammu region wants (reflected in the group’s meeting on the lawns after 12 of them were marshalled out), and what several lakhs of Kashmiri Hindus, ousted from their ten-thousand years old homeland at the point of gun want. By labelling the Act of the Parliament and the verdict of the Supreme Court as “illegal and unconstitutional”, he will have to prove how emergence of jihadist terror in Kashmir followed by the genocide and religious cleansing of Kashmir has to be justified. He has to remember that J&K is a deficit state, and the Indian tax-payer is not obliged to fund a minuscule segment of society that vilifies the Parliament and derides the highest court of law in the country which has the power of taking a suo moto notice of its contempt.
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