Congress Pushes For Statehood and Darbar Move; NC Yet To Decide Position

While releasing its manifesto ahead of the J&K Assembly elections, the Congress party had promised “inclusive and accountable governance” and insisted on restoring statehood for Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, the National Conference (NC) – its alliance partner – aims to fully implement the Autonomy Resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2000. As Omar Abdullah prepares to take the oath on Wednesday alongside his cabinet colleagues, it appears that the Agenda of Alliance (AoA) between the two parties might take time.

The Congress party says it will bring all issues mentioned in the manifesto to the AoA, including the restoration of J&K statehood and the Darbar Move. However, the National Conference says it has not talked about it yet.

“We have put people to work on the CMP. They have both these manifestoes; they are studying it,” J&K Congress president Tariq Karra told Outlook. He said statehood will be the “paramount” issue in the AoA. “It may take some days as both manifestoes have to be securitised to reach common points,” he added.  

The 149-year tradition of the Darbar Move involves about 10,000 employees working in the civil secretariats in Jammu and Srinagar, shifting between the two cities twice every year, as the administration uses Jammu as its winter capital and Srinagar as its summer capital. 

After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the government stopped the age-old practice, calling it a waste of resources and expenditures. While Jammu has been protesting against the closure of the practice, the government didn’t reverse the decision. 

With the Darbar Move, lakhs of Kashmiris could travel to Jammu during the winter months, which helped Jammu's retail business grow. Jammu trade bodies have been saying that to save Rs 200 crore in transportation, the government has destroyed trade of over 10,000 crores between Kashmir and Jammu. They said the Darbar Move was binding two regions of Jammu and Kashmir together. However, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha was not impressed by the protests in Jammu. In 2021, he called Darbar Move a big racket.  

‘Darbar Move A Priority’

Karra says that in the AoA between the two parties, Darbar Move will be a priority this time. 

Both parties also proposed giving first preference for jobs, government contracts, land allocation, and natural resource concessions to those domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir. While Congress, in its manifesto, had called for a White Paper on corruption and the establishment of a Lokayukta within the first 100 days to investigate allegations against current and former officials involved in scams over the past decade, the National Conference also talked about amending laws to restrict land ownership to actual residents by imposing reasonable restrictions on non-residents. It also said it will ensure government and semi-government employment opportunities are available to unemployed residents.

Despite these shared goals, differences could have emerged about the restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A, with the NC pushing a resolution opposing the central government's decision in its manifesto. At present, given the NC's language, Congress is not talking much about it. The party is silent about Article 370. However, if there is a resolution about statehood, Congress says it will support it. 

The Congress struggled in Assembly polls, its role in the Omar Abdullah-led government is expected to be limited, and they will not be a significant force to push the National Conference around. The party managed to win only six of the 32 constituencies it contested, particularly losing in its once stronghold Jammu region, where prominent leaders like Raman Bhalla, Tara Chand, and Lal Singh lost their seats. Only one out of 29 Congress candidates in Jammu emerged victorious. The rest of the seats were won in Kashmir.

Compared to the 2014 Assembly elections, where the NC won 15 seats with a vote share of 20.77 per cent and Congress secured 12 seats with 18.01 per cent, this year’s results saw Congress's vote share drop to just 11.97 per cent. The NC, which contested 51 seats, increased its share to 23.43 percent and won 42 seats.

On Thursday, the National Conference elected Omar Abdullah as the leader of its legislative party. After the meeting, Omar announced that four independent MLAs had extended their support to the NC, increasing the party's strength in the 90-member House to 46. This further consolidates the NC's position, effectively making the Congress party an extra in the governance structure. This is one of the reasons that neither party is discussing the AoA for governance.

“The people have voted with wisdom, supporting alliance candidates to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power. The credit goes to the people if the BJP is out of the power corridor. They deserve accolades for this success,” Karra said. The J&K Congress chief said a practical approach was needed, and the restoration of statehood would pave the way for other rights.

He said that the alliance has taken on the challenge of running the government and will strive to restore constitutional guarantees. “I wish we should have taken the oath in a state, but our government is beginning a new struggle. Our primary focus will be statehood and safeguarding land and employment rights for the people. We need to create sources for employment and review laws passed by the LG administration,” he added.