Article 370 resolution row: Ballistic Modi, defensive Omar and bumbling Congress

Latching on to a resolution passed in the newly constituted Jammu and Kashmir Assembly that called upon the Centre to “initiate dialogue” over the restoration of the Union Territory’s special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi burst out during a poll rally in Maharashtra on November 8 asserting that “no power in the world” can restore Article 370 and “only Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution will be followed in J&K”.

What Modi, Shah claimed in poll rallies

Modi claimed that the Congress party and its senior J&K ally, the National Conference (NC), had “moved a resolution in the J&K Assembly on bringing back Article 370... and when BJP MLAs protested, they were thrown out”. On cue, similar claims have been made since at other poll rallies by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders.

Also read: Chaos after J-K Assembly passes resolution on Art 370, BJP uproar disrupts House

The BJP’s (misleading) claims about what went down in the J&K Assembly during its brief but anarchic inaugural session last week was to be expected. The party and its ideological parent, the RSS, had invested years in building up Article 370 as a polarising issue across the country and its controversial abrogation on August 5, 2019 was milked by the party as a revolutionary step by Modi to “fully integrate J&K with India”.

Now, triggering fears that Article 370 could be restored if the BJP’s winning streak is halted and tying up this bogey with its wider and even more divisive plank of batenge toh katenge – now repurposed by Modi into ek rahenge toh safe rahenge pitch – the party hopes to continue reaping an electoral harvest over a constitutional dead letter.

What is pertinent to note, though, is that the resolution Modi and his acolytes are so raucously referring to in their rallies in a bid to demonise the Congress party and its INDIA bloc partners makes no mention of Article 370.

Cautiously worded resolution

Ironic as it may seem, the resolution has, in fact, put the ruling coalition and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a fix, with the NC’s Kashmir rivals like Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP, Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference and Engineer Rashid’s AIP variously dubbing it “vague”, “half-hearted” and “weak” on the one hand and, on the other, the BJP calling it “divisive and unconstitutional”.

Also read: Neither Rahul nor his descendants will be able to restore Article 370: Amit Shah

Even more curious is the case of the Congress in J&K. Expectedly wary of the manner in which the BJP would exploit the resolution in poll-bound Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the Congress has been trying to downplay the resolution. Its CLP leader Ghulam Ahmed Mir conveniently skipped the Assembly proceedings on grounds that he was occupied with the party’s Jharkhand campaign while Central Shalteng MLA and J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra claimed that the resolution was only a reiteration of the ruling coalition’s demand for “restoration of statehood”.

That Modi and his party’s claims about the resolution passed by a voice vote in the J&K Assembly amid protests by BJP MLAs are outrightly misleading is clear from the text of the pledge moved by deputy chief minister Surinder Chaudhary.

The cautiously worded resolution, passed in the Assembly on November 6, evaded any direct reference to the abrogation of Article 370 or even to the J&K Reorganisation Act that bifurcated the erstwhile state to create the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. The resolution read, “this legislative Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal”.

It added, “the Assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions”.

Also read: MLAs come to blows in J-K Assembly over special status resolution

In fact, the two resolutions which did strongly condemn the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A as also the enactment of the J&K Reorganisation Act were strongly criticised by Abdullah. The NC ensured that these weren’t even put to a vote in the Assembly.

CM Abdullah's emotional explanation

The first such resolution calling for the “complete rescinding” of the abrogation and the J&K Reorganisation Act was moved by PDP’s Pulwama MLA Waheed Para on November 5 and was slammed by Abdullah as a gimmick of “politics for the cameras”. The second resolution, submitted by AIP chief and Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid’s brother and newly elected Langate MLA Khurshid Sheikh – Lone and the three PDP MLAs associated themselves with this resolution – also condemned the abrogation and demanded its revocation but this too was not put to a vote by Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather.

Interestingly, on November 8, around the same time that Modi was slamming the Congress and the NC in Maharashtra for their “conspiracy against Kashmir” and the move to “reintroduce Article 370”, Abdullah was giving an emotional explanation in the J&K Assembly for his government’s resolution not mentioning Article 370.

Combative, restrained and impassioned in equal measure, Abdullah, who has the ominous task of navigating Srinagar’s political aspirations and New Delhi’s political machinations – difficult to reconcile even in the best of circumstances – asserted that it would be folly to expect that “those who took away” Article 370 and “highlighted it as their achievement” would do anything to undo the abrogation. Instead, he argued, that his government had “deliberately” called for just an initiation of dialogue with the Centre for the “limited” issue of restoring special status and constitutional guarantees to J&K in the hope that doing so would “keep the doors of discussion open” between Srinagar and New Delhi in the future.

NC's poll promise

This stand, though a seemingly duplicitous scaling back of the NC’s poll promise of initiating steps for restoration of Article 370, is consistent with what Abdullah has been saying ever since his NC secured its best ever victory in J&K in recent decades and stormed to power last month after the first elections held in the erstwhile state in a decade.

Also read: Jammu and Kashmir: Has BJP closed doors on all dialogues?

Sources in the NC maintain that by calling for an initiation of dialogue with the Centre for “restoring special status and constitutional guarantees” what Abdullah was hoping for was “not the revocation of abrogation of Article 370 but some guarantees that are in line with the special powers and privileges on land rights, reservation in jobs, preservation of customary laws and fund allocation that the Constitution accords to all the north eastern states and even to states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa and Maharashtra through Article 371 (A to J)”.

A senior NC MLA close to Abdullah told The Federal, “I do not want to comment on what Modi is saying in Maharashtra about our government because it is far removed from the truth... the fact is, if there’s anyone who has put his personal credibility on the line with this resolution, who stands to lose the most, then it is Omar Abdullah... it was not easy to put that resolution together; it is a big risk that he has taken by not mentioning Article 370 at all and this is why more than the BJP in J&K he is being criticised by PDP, People’s Conference and Engineer Rashid’s supporters (all from the Kashmir Valley)”.

The senior NC MLA added, “Isn’t it ironic that neither the BJP, which is basically a Jammu party here, is happy with the resolution nor are our rivals in Kashmir... the PDP and PC are accusing Omar of betraying Kashmiris and the BJP is accusing him of divisive politics; even some NC leaders feel the resolution was a dilution of what we promised in our manifesto.”

He said further, “It takes guts to do what Omar has done; none of us know how the ordinary Kashmiri will react to it but he felt that the only way to move forward was to keep our demand for revoking the abrogation on the backburner for now and instead try to get assurances from the Centre that are realistically possible.”

Congress's studied silence

If Abdullah is being hauled up equally by the BJP and the NC’s Kashmir-based rivals, the situation of the Congress is worse off. While Modi’s primary attack in his speeches in the poll-bound states over the resolution has been against the Congress, in J&K, the Grand Old Party’s nervous silence on the resolution has made it a laughing stock among allies and rivals alike at a time when its terrible electoral performance in the UT – the party won just six of the 37 seats it contested – was still being mocked.

“The Congress has six MLAs in the J&K Assembly but not one of them spoke in support of the resolution. Their CLP leader (GA Mir) didn’t even attend the proceedings and the remaining five MLAs, including seniors like Karra and Peerzada Mohammed Syed, have gone into silent mode. When BJP MLAs were creating a ruckus in the Assembly, when they were trying to manhandle NC MLAs, Karra and Peerzada were behaving as if everything is fine because they were scared that if they spoke up, BJP will attack them in Maharashtra and Jharkhand,” a minister in the Abdullah government told The Federal.

The J&K Congress has been maintaining a studied silence on the raging resolution controversy but sources say there is simmering discontent within the party over the conduct of its MLAs. “Everyone knew that this resolution will come as soon as the Assembly is convened. One reason why we stayed out of the government despite contesting the election in alliance with the NC was because our central leadership felt the party will be attacked mercilessly by Modi in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections over this resolution but I strongly feel whoever gave them this advice did the party no favour,” a J&K Congress leader who lost the recent polls told The Federal.

Another veteran J&K Congress leader said, “We are still being attacked by Modi and that too for a resolution that doesn’t even mention Article 370. So, what purpose has our silence served? If we had spoken up, at least we would have earned the confidence of the people of Kashmir but now we are a laughing stock; people feel they wasted their votes on Congress MLAs”.