Prof. Narinder Singh
There is a popular saying in India that ashes of a dead man do not come back after their immersion in the holy Ganges. This saying also applies to Art 370 of the Indian Constitution. This temporary provision was abrogated by both the houses of the Indian Parliament on Angust 5 , 2019. With this ended the special status enjoyed by the J&K State in the Indian union . But many political leaders refuse to accept this stark reality. The Gupkar Alliance is a bunch of Such leaders who have resolved to bring back the controversial Art 370 by using all means including the help of foreign powers like China. These political leaders mostly based in the Valley ruled the state for many years and they are now in a state of shock. In this state of mind they are befooling the people by promising the return of ashes from the depth of high seas. It will not be out of place to mention here that architects of so called Gupkar Alliance are entirely from the valley and have negligible foot hold in Jammu & Ladakh.
Before going in to the merit of demand for the restoration of Art 370 it is worthwhile to go back to early years of independence. Before 1947 the state of Jammu & Kashmir was ruled by the Dogra Rajput rulers based in Jammu. The agitation launched by Sheikh Abdhulla in 1930s and 1940s was basically against the Dogra rule. This agitation had the full support of the Indian National Congress in general and Pt. Nehru in particular. Pt. Nehru had personal disliking for Maharaja Hari Singh. This disliking took a ugly turn after the Dogra ruler stopped the entry of Nehru in to state at the Kohalla Bridge. This development further strengthened the friendship between Sheikh and Nehru. In the wake of tribal invasion Maharaja sought the help from India. But Pt. Nehru agreed for military support only if Maharaja acceded to India. He also put the condition that accession should have the backing of Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah.
After assuming the reins of power Sheikh Abdullah made no secret of his intention of permanently shifting the centre of power from Jammu to the valley. With Nehru as close friend and the Indian National Congress firmly behind, Sheikh slowly and very cleverly started extracting concession after concession from the Indian establishment. During those days constituent assembly was busy in drafting the new Constitution of India. Sheikh Abdullah successfully persuaded Pt. Nehru to make possible the incorporation of a provision which was to give a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This is how Art 370 for the state became a reality. But the fathers of the constitution made it temporary with the intention of deleting it in future. The new political masters in the state were firm in their resolve to make this article a permanent feature of the constitution. The people of Jammu, on the other hand were opposed to this article and they were strongly in favour of full and final integration of the state with the Indian Union.
Sheikh Abdullah, from the very beginning, had a twofold strategy in mind. First was to consolidate his position in Jammu and secondly he intended to keep the state away from India as far as possible. He wanted only a symbolic relationship with India ,possibly only in the fields of finance and defence. He never wanted to have any type of emotional relationship with India.
Sheikh Abdullah was basically a leader of the Valley of Kashmir and the people of that region were swayed by his personality and excellent oratory . He firmly held the view that Valley should have an edge over the other regions in the field of governance consequently he was able to create a political class in the valley which developed in itself a misconceived feeling that valley was the real centre of power in state so painstakingly raised by Maharaja Gulab Singh and his successors by uniting three district regions sharply divided on religious and linguistic lines. With the passage of time regional superiority increased in the valley based political class. For this political class other two regions had no option but to accept the hegemony of the Valley. This self created feeling of superiority complex developed to such an extent that the political class operating in the valley wanted the Chief Ministers only from the valley and no body from Jammu and Ladakh was acceptable to them. Expression of this desire was no secret and it was openly expressed Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad,who belonged to a remote area of Jammu division was very reluctantly accepted as Chief Minister for three years but was made to resign before the expiry of his term.
Abrogation of Art 370 ending the special status of the state was a great setback to the ruling political class of the Valley. All the dreams of this class dashed to the ground and with this ended the misplaced regional superiority embedded in the minds of Valley based political class comprising people like Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. These very people have now formed the so-called Gupkar Alliance by totally closing their eyes to changed realities in the state. My humble advice to the architects of the alliance is that instead of grieving over the loss of good old days, they should spend rest of their lives in contentment and contemplation.
(The author is a Retd. Prof. of Political Science)
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