What made Farooq Abdullah speak up finally? A united statement demanding restoration of Article 370: Mehbooba’s PDP, Sajjad Lone, Congress, CPI(M) all on board.
Farooq Abdullah is not known to mince words, though he switched off for a long “political silence” since his anguished “I am free today, but this freedom isn’t complete” comment after being released from detention in the first fortnight of March. The former CM and National Conference president is back in business—at least that’s what it seems when he affirmed his support to the Gupkar declaration, although Omar Abdullah is yet to react to his father’s initiative.
This August 22, he and several prominent leaders of Jammu and Kashmir signed a joint statement that described abrogation of Article 370 as “unconstitutional” and sought its restoration. This is a reaffirmation of the Gupkar declaration, signed on August 4 last year, which says all major parties would be united in protecting the identity, autonomy, and special status of J&K. A day later, the BJP-led Union government revoked Article 370, arrested around 8,000 people, including three former chief ministers, clamped a communication blockade, and put J&K under an unprecedented lockdown. Some of the leaders, including the 82-year-old senior Abdullah, were released later but bound by a bond that they won’t make political remarks. Abdullah adhered to the gag until last weekend—a move that experts believe is more tactical than emotional.
He signed the joint statement with PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, Congress’s state J&K unit chief G.A. Mir, CPI(M) secretary M.Y. Taragami, Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone, and Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference president Muzaffar Shah. Abdullah has been in touch with several leaders such as former CM Mufti, who is still under detention. “I am in touch with Mehbooba Mufti,” Abdullah says. He is repeatedly naming the Congress, Shiv Sena et al to bolster his remarks that most Indian parties support the Kashmiris vis-à-vis the abrogation of Article 370. In fact, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, tweeted in support of the latest joint statement, while Congress’s P. Chidambaram saluted “the unity and courage of six mainstream Opposition parties who came together to fight the repeal of Article 370.” The only person missing in action is Omar Abdullah.
The joint declaration has attracted mixed reactions. “I think it is full of sound and fury signifying nothing,” says writer Riyaz Wani, who argues that no party is in a position to launch a mass movement when “even local governance is indefinitely subservient to the lieutenant governor”. Ajaz Ashraf Wani, professor of political science, University of Kashmir, calls the joint statement significant. “It is for the first time you see major regional parties coming together to confront New Delhi.” For its part, the BJP has been taken aback. Ravinder Raina, the party’s J&K president, has asked the parties to stop dreaming.
By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar