PM Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre had done away with this provision of the Constitution of India under Article 370 in August 2019, had abolished its statehood, and split in into two Union Territories Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Abolishing special status of Jammu & Kashmir had been BJP’s long time electoral promise to the people of rest of India, on which the party capitalized along other promises and gained overwhelming majority and came to power in 2014. Abrogation of Article 370 had politically divided the country into two - Jammu & Kashmir on the one hand and the rest of India on the other.

During the recent Legislative Assembly election, the BJP promised only restoration of statehood for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, but without giving specific time. Congress promised the electorate to fight for restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir in somewhat vague term – and it was not clear whether the promise was for the Union Territory of J&K or erstwhile state as it existed before abrogation of the Article 370. All regional parties had promised for passage of resolution in the state for restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, while BJP insisted that they would never allow restoration of the Article 370 and the special status of the erstwhile state for the cause of national unity. BJP had alleged and dubbed the opposition INDIA bloc and its allies, as well as other regional political parties anti-national supporting separatism.

It may still suit the BJP to continue with this allegation for gaining political dividend in the rest of the country, and would like to emphasize that the resolution passed in the legislative assembly of Jammu & Kashmir is a threat to national unity. It is another matter that the resolution itself reads, “This Assembly emphasises that any process for restoration must safeguard both national unity and the legitimate aspirations of the people of J&K.”

It is clear that the Legislative Assembly’s resolution is not against the ‘national unity’ but just wanted their legitimate aspirations fulfilled, clearly stretching the tightrope before the BJP led Union Government of India though the nitty-gritty of the process of restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir.

“This Assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of J&K for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out the constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions,” the resolution read, underlining “this Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and expresses concern over the unilateral removal”.

Barring the BJP’s 29 legislators and one other, the resolution got support from 60 legislators of the 90-member assembly. The resolution was moved by the ruling National Conference and it got support of 55 legislators. Non-coalition 5 legislators also supported the resolution which raised total number to 60 supporting the resolution. All the three legislators of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) legislator Sheikh Khursheed, Independent legislator Shabir Kullay, J&K Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone supported the resolution.

On the other hand, the BJP legislators strongly protested against the resolution that sparked furore in the house leading to several brief adjournments, since BJP members stormed the well of the House and shouting slogans like ‘Pakistani agenda nahi chalega’.

It should be noted that resolution came in the House when it was supposed to move motion of thanks to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha’s speech to the Jammu & Kashmir assembly in which he supported restoration “statehood and constitutional guarantees.” It was clearly away from the stand of the BJP led government at the Centre on the issue, and closure to the ruling establishment of the state led by National Conference. This has added a layer of mystery on the issue, though it can be interpreted both ways, since Sinha’s assertion was that “my government” would “make all efforts for restoration of full Statehood and Constitutional Guarantees available to the State”.

Now come to hard politics. BJP would certainly defend abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution of India so that the party could reap political dividend across the country in the name of taming separatism and terrorism in the state. However, it would be very hard to make people believe that the resolution is a Pakistani agenda brought by INDIA bloc and the regional parties of Jammu & Kashmir, since the resolution itself specifically mentions two specific objects – the national unity and legitimate aspirations of the people or the state.

PM Modi led government will have no option but to initiate dialogue with the elected people’s representative on the issue of restoration of special status of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir. Other non-J&K political parties such as Congress will have also to tread carefully in this issue or else their stand would be exploited by the RSS-BJP clan.

People from rest of India must also understand that the wish of the people of J&K must be respected within the framework of national unity, which is also asserted by the assembly resolution. National unity must mean people of J& K and the rest of India be united in true sense of the term, and we must understand that any special status to a region of the country is not ‘separatism’ until separate country is demanded for the region. J&K was part of India even when there was article 370, and even now when it stands abrogated. Abrogation was just a politics, along with splitting the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, which was against the will of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, as shown in the resolution passed for restoration of special status. The country must not allow itself to be misled by any political party involved in this matter. (IPA Service)