national-conference-redeemed-by-article-370-abrogation

It may seem like a paradox, but it is an undeniable fact that the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference has been able to redeem itself mainly due to the Abrogation of Article 370. 

 

The National Conference has been the collateral beneficiary of the Abrogation of Article 370.

In the process, the People’s Democratic Party and other splinter groups like the People’s Conference, the newly formed Awami Ittehad Party and even the Jamaat-e-Islami have almost been decimated. 

 

It is for the first time since 1983 that the people of Kashmir Valley got so enthusiastically engaged with and involved in the state assembly elections. There was almost a unanimous view across the Kashmir valley that it is only the National Conference, which can watch and safeguard the interests of the Kashmiris. No wonder, the NC-Congress alliance won 42 of the 47 assembly segments of the Kashmir valley.

 

Even the five seats the Congress won from the valley were because of the National Conference support only. Most of these seats were NC bastions and the party conceded these to the Congress in deference to the “coalition dharma”.

 

The Abrogation of Article 370 by the Bharatiya Janata Party has changed Kashmir's political landscape in such a way that the Congress is now considered to be more acceptable than the PDP or the Jamaat-e-Islami, as long as it remains a fierce opponent of the BJP. 

 

Remembering the past

However, it was not like that in the past. The National Conference had built up such a narrative against the Congress in Kashmir, that it was considered to be an outside party that would threaten Kashmir’s autonomy. The BJP was not in reckoning those days. 

 

The 1977 assembly elections in J&K were believed to be the most credible in Kashmir’s electoral history. These elections were held after the Indira-Sheikh Accord of 1975, which saw Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Omar Abdullah’s grandfather returning to mainstream politics after about two decades of secessionist politics.

 

The National Conference won 47, while the Congress won only eleven seats then. 13 seats were won by the Janata Party at that time, as it was the “Janata-daur” (Janata Party era) when it formed the first non-Congress government in the country at the centre in 1977.  

 

Those were the best of times in Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah continued to remain the most popular leader of Kashmir. He enjoyed a cordial relationship with both the Janata regime, which lasted till 1980 and Ms Indira Gandhi afterwards, till his death on September 8, 1982. About a million people participated in his funeral, which was, among others, also attended by President Giani Zail Singh and  Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. 

 

Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah’s father succeeded Sheikh Abdullah. He inherited the full support his father enjoyed. However, Farooq started fiddling with the opposition parties and wanted to cobble together an anti-Congress alliance across the country.

 

This was not liked by Ms Indira Gandhi as she felt hurt and betrayed that despite having helped Farooq to inherit his father’s political legacy, despite strong claims from his brother-in-law GM Shah aka ‘Gulshah’, he (Farooq) went along with her opponents. 

When things turned ugly

 

The acrimony started since then and took an ugly turn during the 1984 assembly elections when some National Conference workers lowered down their trousers in front of Indira Gandhi, while she was addressing an election rally in the famous Iqbal Park. PM Gandhi was so deeply hurt that when Farooq went to pay her formal “courtesy” visit after becoming the Chief Minister, she tauntingly asked her staff to check whether he was wearing his trousers.

 

Farooq, backed by the opposition political parties, was quite a novice in politics those days. He apparently got carried away with the opposition support to him, without realizing that he was provoking the wrath of Ms Gandhi, who was already feeling hurt and betrayed. Ms Gandhi eventually avenged her hurt and betrayal, by engineering a defection within the National Conference by installing his brother-in-law, ‘Gulshah’ who already considered himself to be the rightful successor of Sheikh Abdullah, as the Chief Minister in July 1984.  

 

14 NC legislators rebelled against Farooq and supported Gulshah. Congress with 26 MLAs extended outside support to the government, which lasted till 1986. 

Beginning of Kashmir’s turmoil

The seeds of ‘Kashmir turmoil’, which continues even till now, were sown during that period only. Farooq was getting desperate to come back to power. Indira Gandhi was no more on the scene as she was assassinated in October 1984 by her security guards. Rajiv Gandhi had become the Prime Minister. Targeted attacks on the houses and religious places of Kashmiri Pandits during January 1986 in parts of South Kashmir, triggered the Congress withdrawing support to ‘Gulshah’, although there were many more reasons. 

 

Rajesh Pilot, who was a friend of Farooq Abdullah, facilitated an alliance between the Congress and the National Conference, which at that time was quite an unnatural alliance, something like the National Conference aligning with the BJP today.

 

The NC and the Congress were fierce opponents. They shared the political space as the ruling and the opposition parties. Once they aligned together, the opposition space was left blank which was filled by the radicals led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, which cobbled together a political alliance, Muslim United Front, which laid down the foundation of the Islamic separatist movement in Kashmir.

 

Besides, Kashmir had seen a leadership vacuum after the demise of Sheikh Abdullah. He died at the peak of his popularity. Farooq could not handle that popularity. Pakistani military dictator General Zia Ul Haq was awaiting an opportunity, which he seized after Sheikh Abdullah’s demise. And he succeeded. 

 

Primarily it was Indira Gandhi’s obsession with ensuring the Congress party’s rule across the state and also Farooq’s confrontationist attitude towards the centre and her, that complicated the situation. Maybe Gandhi would have redeemed the situation herself, but unfortunately, she did not live that long as she fell to the bullets of her assassins, whom she had personally called back after they had been withdrawn in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar.

What happened afterwards is recent history. The National Conference got weakened a lot. Even when it formed the government twice, after 1987, in 1996 and 2008, its acceptability at the grassroots in Kashmir was always doubtful. It had been completely discredited. 

 

Resurgence of the National Conference

 

For the first time in three decades, the National Conference has redeemed its credibility and acceptability. The common Kashmiri in the street today feels that it is the only party that can and will watch and safeguard their interests. They know that the Abrogation of Article 370 is an irreversible fact. They now look forward to a credible party. For them, the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti is not in a position to take a stand for them. Engineer Rashid was “suspected” of either being a “BJP proxy” or not capable enough to take up and represent the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

 

The Kashmiris have now reposed their complete trust and faith in the National Conference, with its credible history and effective leadership. The onus is on 'the Chief Minister designate' Omar Abdullah to draw a balance. 

 

Till now he was a political opponent of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now he is the Chief Minister who has to work with the Prime Minister. He has to draw a balance to ensure that what he and his party have managed to redeem is not lost again. A stronger, popular and powerful National Conference is not only in the interest of the Kashmiris but in the interest of the country as well. The central government also needs to understand that.

 

Had it not been for the Abrogation of Article 370, the National Conference may not have seen itself to be in such a commanding position. It must be thankful to the BJP and the Prime Minister for that.