Not the First Time: J&K Leadership Unites to Defend Special Status

The Supreme Court will be hearing a plea, challenging the article which grants special rights to permanent residents of the state and bars any non-state subject to buy property or settle there. The leaders and the civil society are all calling in unison that the Supreme Court should dismiss the petition.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met with senior opposition leader Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday, as apprehensions over abrogation of Article 35A grew among the state leaders. This has united all the ruling as well as the opposition parties on a single plank, against the likely move. The meeting between Ms Mufti and Mr Abdullah took place a day after all the opposition party leaders met to discuss the issue.

‘Nothing left in the special status’

As the political rivals were united over the concerns of Article 35 A, Ms Mufti said that the issue was more challenging for the pro-India political parties of the state, who swear by the state constitution and the Constitution of India.

“There is hardly anything left in the special status and if this article is tampered with, we will cease to exist. It will be a death knell to the mainstream (political parties) here. We will have nothing to tell our people,’’ she said.

The state leaders and the civil society have several times remarked that the special status of the state has been eroded since decades under successive governments.

Constitutional expert AG Noorani in his book - A Constitutional History of Jammu & Kashmir – writes, that former home minister and interim Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda referred to the Article 370 as a “shell”. “Whether you keep it or not, it has been completely emptied of its contents. Nothing has been left in it.”

PDP vs BJP

Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], which is governing the state with Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP], has already faced a lot of pressure since the coalition government was formed in 2015. The state has erupted many times over issues of implementation of beef-ban, composite settlements for Kashmiri Pandits and proposed settlement of the retired armed personnel in Sainik colonies.

Even though the PDP-BJP governed the state on Agenda of Alliance (AoA), the leaders of the two parties were pitted against each other on several occasions. The PDP has since then, drawn flak from the opposition parties as well as the locals. They have been accused of completely surrendering in front of the right-wing party, and that its leaders are felicitating the party’s divisive ambitions in the state.

Even before the two parties joined hands, state Finance Minister Haseeb and PDPs point-man in forging the alliance A Drabu, wrote an article in a Srinagar based local daily, stating that there is “nothing new” in BJPs stand to abrogate article 370 and that all state parties joined in unison to defend the same. “What is there to abrogate?” he asked and listed ten points pointing towards the “damage” already done.

A ‘stir’ to defend the status

For the political parties and the civil societies in Kashmir, the “special status” still involves important aspects of permanent residence and the pro-India leadership intend to safeguard. And the fact that there is nothing left in the status to “defend” will hardly deter the leaders from opposing the move.

The political parties, including the ruling PDP and the National Conference (NC), along with others have expressed deep anguish over the proposed move and have even threatened a long stir, if the state’s special status is tinkered with.

The abrogation of the article, state leaders believe, would mean that the state laws related to permanent residency can no longer exist and that non-state subjects can buy property or settle in the state. The laws, which bar employment of any non-state residents in the state, will also cease to exist. This is, as the parties believe, an attack aimed to alter the state’s demography.

The alleged plans to alter the demography has struck fear in the hearts of the locals and have forced them to stand up against the state like in 2008, when the PDP-INC coalition transferred land to a private board, which led to months long agitation against the move. Though the land transfer was revoked, it had already claimed the lives of nearly 40 civilians during protests.

Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah warned the Centre, that the issue has potential to further deteriorate the situation in an already volatile state. “The government of India will be squarely responsible for that,” said Abdullah adding that 2008 land row agitation is nothing compared to the repercussions the current issue will have in the state.

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