The resolution passed by Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday seeking special status for the Union territory and the one moved in the house on Thursday calling for the restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution reflect political expediency and oneupmanship by the parties and does not exactly contribute to the genuine demand for the restoration of its statehood.
There are many in Jammu and Kashmir, and the country at large, who are opposed to the unilateral decisions of the Union government to abrogate Article 370, divide the state into two Union territories and strip both of statehood. There was widespread resentment to the process the government adopted — it steamrolled all Opposition views, threw parliamentary etiquette to the winds, made the state an open jail and put all those who opposed the government’s point of view behind bars. While this cannot be reversed, there is pressing need for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are on record committing themselves to fulfilling this demand; in fact, the Union government has assured the Supreme Court that it will do the same.
Omar Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s first elected chief minister after Article 370 was abrogated, sounded very competent and pragmatic when he said that he did not expect the NDA government to undo all that it has done to the state but there would be no compromise on the issue of statehood. True, the government resolution did not call for Article 370 to be returned to the Constitution and asked only for a special status but it did give the BJP an opportunity to cry foul. The second resolution will only embolden the hardliners in New Delhi.
The political parties in Jammu and Kashmir must get their priorities right and ensure that their posturing does not undermine their own legitimate demands.
