Politics of competitive secessionism in Kashmir: NC tears into INC, PDP-PC tear into NC

Kashmiri politics

Politics in Kashmir, which was converted into an over 99.99 percent Muslim region by New Delhi-supported radical Islamists in January 1990, has always been one of competitive communalism and secessionism. Any Kashmiri Muslim party, which dares to shake hands with what they call a “saffron outfit” and “ultra-rightist BJP”, is taught a lesson by the Kashmiri Muslim electorate. It hates, despises, and defeats such an outfit in Kashmir.

That the Valley electorate — an ardent believer in the concept of Kashmiri Muslim sub-nationalism and ideology of exclusiveness — hates, despises, and defeats the Kashmiri outfits that dare to shake hands with the BJP could be seen from what it did to the National Conference of Abdullahs in 2002, 2008 and 2014 and what it did to Muftis in 2024.

NC’s friendship with the BJP

Farooq Abdullah and his son, Omar Abdullah, shook hands with Atal Bihari Vajpayee on July 23, 2001, to get a berth in his ministry and the result was that their party became an object of contempt and ridicule in Kashmir.

It’s a statement of fact. Just compare the NC’s performance in the 1996 Assembly elections with its performance in the 2002, 2008, and 2014 Assembly elections and you will at once come to a conclusion that the Kashmiri parties which hobnob with the BJP only suffer humiliating defeats.

In the 1996 Assembly elections, the NC had won 57 of the 87 Assembly seats. In 2002, it could win only 28 seats, 29 less than its 1996 tally. In 2008, it also won 28 seats. And, in 2014, its tally came down to just 15. It could turn the tables on its political foes only in the 2024 Assembly elections and won 42 seats in the 90-member House, got less than 23 percent of the total votes polled, and formed the first-ever government in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory. The fear of the Hindu chief minister from Jammu helped the NC win the 2024 Assembly election.

In between, Farooq Abdullah suffered a humiliating defeat in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, Omar Abdullah suffered a humiliating defeat in one of the two Assembly constituencies in 2014 and won the second seat by a thin margin of around 100 votes and also suffered an ignominious defeat in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections.

PDP’s friendship with the BJP

And, see the political status of the PDP, which in 2015 shook hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to capture the state power. In 2002, the PDP, an ardent believer in the concept of self-rule and supra-state measures, won 16 seats, all in Kashmir, and threw the NC out of power. In 2008, it won 21 seats and in 2014, it won 28 seats.

What did the Kashmiri electorate do to the PDP in the 2024 Assembly elections? It rejected with contempt the PDP and its tally came down to a paltry three. Even the radical daughter of Mehbooba Mufti, Iltija Mufti, suffered an ignominious defeat in the Bijbehara constituency, considered a pocket borrow of the Mufti dynasty.

In between, the PDP chief and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, suffered humiliating defeats in the 2019 and 2024 general elections in the Anantnag parliamentary constituency and the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency, respectively.

Congress and Special Status Resolution

On November 6, 2024, the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government passed the first-ever resolution in the first-ever Assembly session in the Union territory seeking special status. The BJP, the main Opposition party, opposed it tooth and nail and forced the Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather, a pledged NC man, to adjourn the House again and again and order the marshals to throw the agitating BJP MLAs out of the House.

As was expected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other top-ranking BJP leaders made the divisive Assembly resolution a big poll issue in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Ever since November 6, they have been attacking the Congress from the right and left and telling the nation that the Congress and its ally, the NC, have been speaking the Pakistani language, trying to restore divisive Article 370, and promoting secessionism in Kashmir.

Convinced that the issue could damage its poll prospects, the-on-the-back-foot Congress on November 14 tried to distance itself from the special status resolution. (The Congress MLAs had supported it.) It was none other than the AICC chief and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who came forward to tell the BJP leadership that it was leveling false charges against the Congress and that nobody in his party ever demanded restoration of Article 370.

Addressing a press conference in Pune, Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of abusing the Congress and its senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and said: “Amit Shah, in his poll rallies, accuses the Congress of spreading lies. (But) He (himself) is saying that Congress wants to bring back Article 370 (in J&K). Tell me, who said that and when? You are raking up an issue. If it (the resolution to repeal Article 370) had been already passed in Parliament, why are you raking up the issue again? It means you want to keep the issue alive to divide. If you want to say this, go to Kashmir and say it. Elections are over in Kashmir.”

The very next day (Nov 15), the JKPCC chief, Tariq Hamid Karra, a friend and well-wisher of Pakistan and a staunch votary of separate status, said that the demand for restoration of Article 370 was neither raised in the resolution passed by Jammu & Kashmir Assembly nor is there any mention of it. “We have already said that the only thing left to demand after the Supreme Court verdict on Article 370 is statehood,” he said, or he was made to say it by the defensive Congress high command.

Competitive secessionism

What the AICC chief and the JKPCC chief said infuriated the NC to the extent that it issued a stern warning against any attempts to misinterpret the resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. It was none other than radical NC MP from Srinagar and Shia cleric, Ruhullah Mehdi, who tore into Kharge and Kara on November 15.

Condemning Kharge and Kara, Ruhullah, inter-alia, said: “No INC president or JKPCC president has a right to misinterpret the resolution passed by the J&K Legislative Assembly in the last session. The purpose of that resolution is to express the people’s disapproval of all the amendments and unconstitutional abrogation of the guaranteed (Special) Status of J&K from the year 1953 to 2019…This resolution calls for the return of all the guarantees in their original shape and form as were operational before 1953, including Art 370 and 35A. Let alone JKPCC or any other entity. Even if anyone from within @JKNC_ tries to misinterpret the resolution otherwise and against the wishes of the people, will be rejected and pushed by the people to a corner of irrelevance as the allies of BJP were in the last election.”

What Ruhullah said cleared all the cobwebs of confusion and established that the November 6 resolution not only sought restoration of Articles 35-A and 370, but also restoration of pre-1953 politico-constitutional status – status under which the Centre could handle only defence, foreign affairs, and communication and pump Indian rupees in Kashmir so that they could indulge in anti-India activities with the help of the Indian taxpayers’ money.

The conflict between the under-pressure Congress and emboldened NC was taken by the defeated PDP and the People’s Conference to mean an invaluable opportunity to tear into the NC, settle scores with it, and regain the lost ground in Kashmir. The PDP MLA, Waheed Para, and the People’s Conference chief and MLA, Sajad Lone, took no time to pounce upon Aga Ruhullah.

Tearing into Ruhullah and the NC, Waheed Para on the same day contested his assertion. Tagging Ruhullah’s official X-handle, Para wrote: “The Deputy CM (Surinder Choudhary) of J-K holds the authority to interpret the resolution and that the Deputy CM in a recent interview asked the journalist not to link the resolution with Article-370.”

“MP (Ruhullah) Mehdi should explain if the Deputy CM is ‘complicit in misleading the public by insisting that the resolution is tied to Article 370, despite the glaring contradictions among key stakeholders’ involved?” Para also said: “Our CM’s already on his second Delhi trip in a month. Is he fighting for 370, 371, statehood… or just shopping for a cozier throne?”

As for Sajad Lone, he sought clarification from the NC after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remarks that his party never talked about restoration of Article 370. “While the Congress says that the resolution was not about Article 370, the NC says it was about Article 370 and much more,” he said while seeking a clarification from the ruling NC.

The way forward

One thing is clear: The Kashmiri Muslim parties will not reform themselves; they will continue to religiously tread the path they have been treading for decades. The Narendra Modi government must look all these things in the face and take two steps without losing a moment: 1. Kashmir must be converted into a Chandigarh-type Union Territory and 2. Jammu must be separated from Kashmir so that the nationalist constituency is strengthened in this sensitive frontier region.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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