National Conference(NC) party vice-president, Umar Abdullah, greets lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to take oath as the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The oath ceremony was conducted on 16th October 2024 in Srinagar. Abdullah was elected after the first-ever elections in Jammu and Kashmir post Article 370 abrogation in the state. Along with him, five other ministers also took the oath. This includes three ministers from the Jammu division and three from the Kashmir division, including Umar Abdullah. In the Jammu division, the BJP sweeps to victory.
The new National Conference (NC) government of Jammu and Kashmir is a coalition government with the Congress party. Congress has decided to stay out of the active cabinet, while the inclusion of Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP in the new government of Jammu and Kashmir is still ambiguous.
Demand for Statehood
The NC-Congress-led government in the newly formed union territory of Jammu and Kashmir seeks to restore statehood as one of their first few steps after coming to power. Omar Abdullah is determined to pass a resolution in his first cabinet meeting after taking charge as the new CM. “After the formation of the government, I hope in the first cabinet meeting, the cabinet will pass a resolution impressing upon the Centre to restore the statehood. The government should then take that resolution to the prime minister”, said Abdullah.
According to the CM, the demand for statehood was promised by the Prime Minister, Home Minister and other ministers after conducting the de-limitation exercise and peaceful elections in the state.
When asked about his party’s relation with the centre, Abdulla responded, “The people have not voted for a confrontation. The people of J-K have voted because they want employment, they want development, they want the restoration of the statehood, they want to address electricity and other issues and that redressal will not happen by having a confrontation with New Delhi.”, Abdullah said.
The statement was in light of the decision of the current J&K LG, Manoj Sinha, to elect five MLAs from the Bharathi Janta Party. These MLAs will be included in the newly formed government. For Abdullah, these five MLAs will not be able to impact the decisions of the elected government a lot. He rather confidently spoke about representing the voices from Kashmir, those who elected his party to power.
The Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra told the press that the party has decided to stay out of the cabinet government and provide outside support to the NC government’s demand for statehood. The Congress party has been demanding the restoration of statehood of J&K from the centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Congress has also left hints of joining the government in days to come.
Article 370: A Legal Battle Ahead
In the first few days of August 2019, the BJP-led government at the Centre started to deploy more troops in the then-state of Jammu and Kashmir. This followed the stunning announcement of the government to scrap Article 370 which provided the disturbed state with some autonomy over its functioning. Section 35 A of this article gave powers to the state of Jammu and Kashmir to have its own laws, constitution and state flag. This was done because historically, the state has been a battlefield for international disputes with neighbouring countries of China and Pakistan.
Also, during the time of partition, the people of the state were promised a referendum to choose between Pakistan and India. Being the only Muslim-majority state in India, the referendum of the people was the constitutional way of integrating the state with India.
However, the actual series of events that followed during the partition and independence of India did not provide Jammu and Kashmir with any decision-making power.
While supporters of this action by the BJP find the step important for the complete integration of the entire nation as one, critical voices have strongly opposed the move as an attack on Kashmir. The move will change the demographic character of the Muslim-majority state by allowing non-Kashmiri citizens of India, to buy land for personal and commercial use.
What remains under debate is whether the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019 by the BJP government is legal or not. As per Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, any modifications to the present arrangement can only be made with the consent of the state government. However, Article 370 was scrapped overnight by the BJP-led government during a global medical lockdown. The then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, was reduced to a minority voice. Many other political leaders of the state were also put under arrest while many areas within the state experienced shutdowns and excessive military surveillance.
As far as the people of Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, many are not happy with the decision. While for some other residents of the state, this decision has brought neither good nor bad.
