Azhar Hussain
SRINAGAR, June 26: Just a day after the meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, former J&K Chief Minister and Vice President of National Conference appeared to have in a subtle meticulous mannerism changed his Party stance to a more somber and accommodative tone.
In his recent statement, Omar Abdullah said “It took the BJP 70 years to fulfill its political agenda for (Article) 370. Our struggle has just started. We don’t want to fool people by telling them we will get 370 back in these talks. It will be foolish to expect 370 will be back — there has been no indication it will be restored by the current government.”
Political observers believe that these lines convey a gloominess with a tint of despair. In comparison with the remarks of the NC leadership, especially before the meeting, this statement appears to be in complete disagreement to what they had been professing earlier on, a political science scholar opined while talking to Kashmir Despatch.
Last year Farooq Abdullah in a very controversial statement had said that ‘he hoped Article 370 will be restored in J&K with the help from China.’ Furthermore, it was again the NC’s supreme leader who registered his zealous demand five days before the meeting at PMO for an ‘immediate annulment of all the 5th August 2019 decisions and restoration of the 4th August 2019 constitutional position of Jammu and Kashmir.’
He even termed the scrapping of Article 370 as a decision which was taken “unconstitutionally, arbitrarily and unilaterally.” He also said that “Revocation of 5th August 2019 decisions and unconditional dialogue with all the stakeholders is pivotal to the lasting peace and prosperity in the region.”
However, all these statements correspond to the by-gone days, because as of now NC has called for a surprisingly ‘peaceful fight’ in regards with the demand for restoration of pre-August 05 position which even may take years, decades or eventually may not happen ever at all. But for engaging the common masses with some scrumptious bait such talks help a lot.
As far as PDP is concerned, it is all clear that the former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is utterly disappointed with NC, especially Farooq Abdullah for not backing the former on the issue of restoring Article 370 during the meeting.
Pertinently, Omar Abdullah’s stand had already made it clear enough, when he very delicately distanced himself and his party from Mufti’s notorious Pakistan remark. However, the post meeting situation suggests that the wedge between the two has grown a little further which may not be still visible to all.
Speaking on behalf of National Conference, Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had spoken on behalf of all J&K leaders present in the meeting and he had out rightly rejected Prime Minister Modi’s timeline and demanded that Statehood be restored before everything else.
“We want delimitation, statehood and then election. If you want to hold polls, you’ll have to restore statehood first,” said Omar.
This conversion is extremely belligerent in contrast to what NC had been claiming earlier on. Now the priority has shifted to Statehood, which by the way was a long term demand raised by another newly formed regional political party, the Apni Party. So, it seems that what all the political parties now agree on as being tangible and equally accomplishable is the restoration of statehood.
However, not all are lured to get Statehood back. In order to maintain its political relevance on ground, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti has chosen to remain steadfast over the restoration of Article 370 prior to all other processes set on the JK to-do list.
A peculiar stance that was just revealed by Mehbooba on Saturday suggests that She will desist from contesting in any election until the Article 370 is restored by the Central Government. But there exists a witty catch in it. She has still kept the skylight open for the rest of her Party leadership, while saying that her party will still contest the polls to ensure that the electoral grounds are not delivered to the parties who cannot live up to the expectations of the people.
Curiously, the alliance members like M. Y Taraigami and ANC leader Muzaffar Shah have somehow chosen to remain in the background. As apparently only two parties have continuously dominated this alliance while keeping others in the duty of corroborating the viewpoints of the Dou-Party chieftains.
Above all, the fact remains that the talk of restoration of Article 370 has been very artfully put beneath the sod. These political parties have now shifted their immediate concern towards contesting elections within a State wherein they can exercise their powers in absolute totality. Rest the earlier emotive talks were meant for the gullible lot and history lectures.
