Will J&K Assembly Pass A Resolution For Article 370 To Be Restored?

Pressure is mounting for a resolution to be moved in the assembly when it meets next week for its maiden sitting to demand 'restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A' as committed in the National Conference's election manifesto, reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.

IMAGE: Omar Abdullah is sworn in as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar, October 16, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Like his incomparable, stalwart-grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in 1975, settling down into his second term in office, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been grappling to adjust himself into an uncomfortably tight-fitting chair, compared to a far more powerful seat of authority he occupied in his first term from 2009 to 2015.

Unlike the Sheikh whose fabulous political past enabled him to camouflage his discomfiture and move on with ease, Omar has to contend with the ugly reality of downsizing of his authoritative profile.

And, as of now, he looks to be doing it to the best of his ability.

When Sheikh Abdullah was arbitrarily dismissed from power and imprisoned in 1953 he was the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir with only three subjects, defence, foreign affairs and communication under the Union government's jurisdiction.

By the time of his return, 22 years later, the balance of power between the state and the Centre had changed beyond recognition -- at the state's expense.

The physically towering Sheikh could be seen adjusting himself awkwardly. However, his formidable popularity enabled him to have a free run until his demise in 1982.

Omar does not have that kind of shock absorber in his armoury.

That this particular factor was weighing upon his mind became evident after his first visit to New Delhi within a fortnight of taking office in Srinagar, following his National Conference party's stunning electoral victory.

Back in Srinagar, he cautioned the state bureaucracy against taking undue advantage of the dual-authority regime in the Union Territory.

J&K has been without an elected government since 2018. During this period the state was bifurcated and downgraded to a Union Territory.

The sphere of the chief minister's administrative has shrunk beyond recognition. Omar Abdullah, in his first term, wielded enormous authority in terms of J&K's separate constitution.

To impress upon officialdom that 'J&K is not Delhi', Omar told a meeting of secretariat officials after returning from the national capital where he met the prime minister, home minister and other Union ministers, that he had been assured that his government would be facilitated with all help to ensure smooth functioning of the state machinery.

Easier said than done. The BJP's post-election political compulsion would compel it to nibble at Omar's base. The pattern of the assembly poll results shows a clear cut regional and communal division.

The National Conference in the Kashmir Valley and the BJP in Jammu have emerged as two powerful contenders. Its logical implications do not augur well for smooth sailing of the Omar-led regime.

The BJP would want its pound of flesh. What would that be and how Omar can cope with that will determine the course of events in the coming weeks and months.

The newly elected legislative assembly is scheduled to meet next week. Its deliberations could provide a clue to which way the wind was likely to blow.

The rub lies in reconciling the two mutually conflicting demands.

IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah calls on Prime Minister Narendra D Modi in New Delhi, October 24, 2024. Photograph: Kind courtesy PMO/X

The National Conference has to reckon with two types of challenges. One, to stem the emerging tide of strident electoral expectations without hurting its freshly regained high political profile and two, to balance its inevitable fallout with the critical necessity of ensuring smooth administrative functioning in the face of potential regionl/communal tensions.

Only the time can tell whether New Delhi would, in this particular case, make an exception and overcome its characteristic hostility towards a non-BJP regime at the helm.

Extraordinary sensitive geopolitical dimensions of the case warrant that kind of exception.

As if to mock at the prevailing scenario, while the elected government is bending over backwards to appear being in command, UT Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who controls key areas of administration, hosted an official function on October 30 to mark ('celebrate'?) five years of J&K's Union Territory status.

Perhaps nothing could illustrate the irony better.

IMAGE: A performance at the Foundation Day event in Srinagar, October 30, 2024. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com

To go back to the old precedent, Sheikh Abdullah in his 1977 electoral promise had committed to 'review all post-1953 central laws' applied to J&K, somewhat like the 2024 commitment made by the National Conference to 'restore Article 370 and Article 35A'.

Sheikh did go through the motion of honouring his commitment, by setting up a ministerial committee, until the issue faded out and he was given an emperor's funeral on September 8,1982.

That is why it's being said here that he had 'normalised/legitimised' the post-1953 state of affairs.

A sea change had taken place between 1953 and 1975 in both the Constitutional, administrative and political spheres -- at the state's expense.

That was the position on January 5, 2009 when Omar took his turn at the helm for the first time.

Fifteen years down the line, when he is back in the saddle he, like his grandfather, has to reckon with an awkwardly altered playing field created as a result of the '00politico-Constitutional crackdown' on August 5, 2019.

Perhaps it is a rare coincidence when the history has found -- and positioned -- yet another 'Abdullah' to normalise post-2019 state of affairs.

More than anyone else, Omar appears to be conscious of the hard reality that, in the given context, he is not his grandfather and has an arduous task cut out for him.

IMAGE: The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet passes a resolution urging the Union government to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, October 19, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Not surprisingly, a request to the prime minister for immediate restoration of J&K's full statehood was the first major decision announced by the newly formed Omar Abdullah government.

How and when New Delhi obliges the chief minister would largely determine whether the new state government would have smooth sailing as it goes about honouring its electoral pledge.

Pressure is mounting for a resolution to be moved in the assembly when it meets next week for its maiden sitting to demand 'restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A' as committed in the National Conference's election manifesto.

It was not for nothing that Omar was reluctant to contest the assembly poll until he was coerced to change his mind at the last moment.

His argument, rightly, was that the new legislature as well as the new elected government would be powerless.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com