Synopsis
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement that no one in his party discussed restoring Article 370 has put its J&K alliance partner, the National Conference (NC), in a difficult position. The NC maintains that the resolution on special status passed by the J&K assembly is for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35(A), but other parties are demanding clarification.
AgenciesCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s assertions that nobody in his party talked about restoration of Article 370 has put its alliance partner in J&K, the National Conference (NC), in a tight spot. The NC has maintained that the resolution on special status passed by the J&K assembly earlier this month is for the restoration of Article 370 and 35 (A).
Opposition parties–– People’s Democratic Party, People’s Conference and other regional parties –– have asked NC to clear its stand on the issue as the Congress is providing support to the NC government here and have welcomed the resolution but called it as a resolution for “restoration of statehood and not Article 370”.
“NC Resolution is hardly three sentences long and we are seeing so many conflicting interpretations of this resolution from their allies. Mystery in J&K is do we believe Omar Abdullah or Congress,” said Sajad Lone of People’s Conference, who is a legislator from Handwara constituency of northern Kashmir. He said the NC resolution is about anything and everything other than Article 370, 35 (A) and whatever happened on August 5, 2019. “We have maintained that this is a fixed match between NC and the BJP,” Lone told ET.
The Congress chief recently said in Pune that Home Minister Amit Shah was unnecessarily raking up the issue of Article 370, when it has already been abrogated by Parliament. “It means, he wants to keep the issue alive to divide. He (Shah) says the Congress wants to bring back Article 370 (in J&K). Tell me, who said that and when,” Kharge asked.
People’s Democratic Party legislators Fayaz Ahmad Mir said his party had brought a fresh resolution clearly mentioning Article 370 and 35 (A) in the assembly “foreseeing the confusion this vague NC resolution would create in near future”.
“Now, it is more than clear that the NC resolution was a compromise and they were hand in glove with the BJP. This is why we protested in the assembly and brought our resolution so that there is no confusion in future as well,” Mir told ET.
While Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and NC legislators maintained silence over the Congress leader’s remarks, the party’s Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah, in a social media post wrote that no INC president or JKPCC president has a right to misinterpret the resolution passed by the J&K Legislative Assembly.
“The purpose of that resolution is to express the people’s disapproval of all the amendments and unconstitutional abrogation of the guaranteed (Special) Status of J&K from 1953 to 2019,” said Ruhullah adding, “This resolution calls for the return of all the guarantees in their original shape and form as was operational before 1953, including Article 370 and 35A”. He said that even if someone from his own party tries to misinterpret the resolution against the wishes of the people, “it will be rejected and pushed by the people to a corner of irrelevance as the allies of BJP were in the last election”.
