1 week Ago
The November 6 resolution of the J&K UT Assembly calling for restoration of the special status of the erstwhile state has become a political boon for BJP in its election campaign in Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly polls where it is targeting Congress more on the issue without naming its ally National Conference. BJP lapped on the resolution terming it as a design by Congress to reignite flames of terrorism and secessionism in a sensitive border territory within hours after the Assembly passed resolution, in which it was stated quite explicitly that it wanted to Centre to open dialogue with the elected representatives to work out mechanisms safeguarding national unity and legitimate aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without mentioning a word about Article 370. It was obvious that the resolution invoked the letter and spirit of the Article 370 but refrained from using it in its text.
This served a dual purpose – the ruling National Conference could satisfy its constituents that it is working on the promises that it had made in the election time to get Article 370 back in the due course of time. It had listed the resolution to this effect in the first session of the Assembly as its starting point. Simultaneously it sought a dialogue with the Centre to work out a mutually acceptable mechanism.
The thrust of the resolution was on special status and constitutional guarantees Congress as a pre-poll ally of National Conference had always maintained distance from the pleas seeking restoration of Article 370 as it was aware of the pitfalls of such an endorsement in the political milieu in the country where the majority community had accepted the abrogation of Article 370 as one of the greatest acts of Indian nationalism and supremacy of Hindutuva – read Jammu and Kashmir was the only Muslim-majority state in the country. That made a lot of sense to the advocates of Hindutuva in the country who view Muslims as “infiltrators” bent upon spoiling the culture and ethos of “Bharat”. BJP lapped onto the passage of the resolution in J&K Assembly and gave it a twist that Congress, in cohorts with its allies, was working at the behest of Pakistan as it had brought and passed the resolution seeking reversal of the abrogation of Article 370.
It has been drummed into the minds of the majority community across the country that Article 370 was an anti-national constitutional provision. It believes that this provision was inserted in the constitution though as a temporary provision to please Pakistan and its agents in Jammu and Kashmir. It also blames India’s first prime minister and Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru for committing this “sin” in alliance with National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
Now the BJP is using the issue in the most aggressive fashion in Jharkhand and Maharashtra Assembly polls, dubbing Congress as the cheerleader of secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir, trying to break it from the rest of the country by working on what it calls “Pakistan’s agenda.” Congress is painted as enemy of the country’s unity and peace in Kashmir. There are two factors which make BJP to draw Pakistan -Congress “nexus “into the campaign.
Pakistan factor is traced to its posturing after the Article 370 was abrogated- Pakistan had vowed not to have any truck with India unless the August 5, 2019 decisions were reversed. This election plank has surprised many in Kashmir, wondering on the one hand BJP claims that Article 370 can never be resurrected and on the other it has chosen to target the resolution and Congress. But then election is election.
Congress is not having an effective counter to this..
