NATIONAL CONFERENCE VICE president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah is touring Kashmir to shore up support for party candidates. The main focus of his campaign is the BJP’s challenge to Article 370, which gives autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir, and Article 35A, which allows the assembly to define permanent residents of the state.
With an eye on the assembly polls, which are expected to be held later this year, Omar has promised to work towards restoring autonomy and the post of prime minister of the state. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
The Peoples Democratic Party has fielded a weak candidate in Srinagar, where NC president Farooq Abdullah is contesting. NC has fielded retired judge Hasnain Masoodi against state Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir in Anantnag, which is likely to benefit the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti. What is going on between PDP and NC?
We are not alliance partners. We have made that very clear. We have chosen not to field candidates in Udhampur and Jammu for the same reason as the PDP’s—we did not want anti-BJP votes to get divided. We are fighting against the Congress in Srinagar and Anantnag, and we will fight against it in Leh-Kargil (Ladakh) seat. The Congress has chosen not to put up a candidate in Srinagar because of doctorsahab’s (Farooq Abdullah) seniority. But we are not partners.
Why don’t you and the PDP join forces if you really mean business on Article 370 and Article 35A?
We really mean business. But our sense was that the polity, particularly in the valley, requires a churning of ideas. The main political forces in the valley today are the NC and the PDP. If the parties were to come together, that would push the legitimate opposition in the state to the fringes. That is a mistake we committed in 1987, when the NC and the Congress came together. It is important that, in the valley at least, there are mainstream political alternatives available to the people.
You said you are not in an alliance with the Congress. So are you part of the mahagathbandhan?
There is no gathbandhan. For want of a better term, it was stillborn. I always had reservations about this mahagathbandhan. I had maintained that the Congress is the only pan-India opposition party. Everybody else is a regional player. The only alliances that matter are those that the Congress was able to forge with regional players. What am I going to contribute to West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, etc?
Farooq Abdullah is campaigning everywhere.
Only in one place. Doctorsahab has been campaigning in Andhra Pradesh because of his friendship with Chandrababu Naidu.
Other than Article 370 and Article 35A, what are the issues you are focusing on?
We are focusing on the last five years. The security environment has deteriorated and the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been made to suffer under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, particularly Kashmiris in and outside Kashmir. Who can forget the onslaught on Kashmiris in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack? No less a person than the governor of a state called for an economic boycott of Kashmir. We are also talking about the failures of the PDP-BJP alliance. And how it has pushed the state to the wall.
What is your prediction for the Lok Sabha elections?
I don’t think anybody should make predictions. Different people from different states give us different feedback. The only thing I can say is that based on the prime minister’s body language, and based on the tone and tenure of his campaign, he is not a comfortable man. He doesn’t project that aura of confidence. What you saw in 2014 was a confident Narendra Modi. He was giving you a message of hope and a better tomorrow. What you see today is a Modi who is trying to instil fear in people: ‘If you do not vote for me terrorism can get worse. If you do not vote for me, Pakistan will win.’ It’s a different matter that Pakistan has said they want Modi to win.
Farooq Abdullah has said that if Article 370 and Article 35A are revoked, Kashmir would be free.
It is not just Farooqsahab; mainstream politicians cutting across party lines have said exactly the same thing. Even Sozsahab (Saifuddin Soz of the Congress) has said the BJP is trying to demolish the bridge between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India. The sentiment is the same; the words used are slightly different.
Is that your sense that this is what will happen?
All I would say is this: If Article 370 is the foundation of the constitutional relationship between the two entities (J&K and Union of India), what is the relationship if that goes?
Are you saying that if the constitutional link between Srinagar and New Delhi breaks, India will have no jurisdiction over Kashmir?
If there is no constitutional relationship—and clearly there is no emotional relationship—then what relationship exists? Only a military one.
In a sense, it will turn into military occupation?
That is what logic would dictate.
You have been saying that one party should get majority to safeguard the interests of the state. Does it hold true for the PDP?
Not under the current PDP leadership. Whether Mehbooba Mufti has learnt her lessons during her tenure, I don’t know.
What do you have to say to Sajjad Lone’s statement that if his party comes to power in the state, it would order a probe into the rigging of 1987 elections, in which many people have implicated the NC?
By all means.
You are open to that?
Come to power. Come to power. Who is stopping him? Win 44 plus seats, and do whatever you like within the norms of the Constitution. I myself have been saying that Jammu and Kashmir needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that starts from 1986-87.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a post-conflict measure. How can we have it when the conflict is going on?
Agreed. So let the conflict end. We came close to ending it in the past. Who knows, with Imran Khan batting for Modi, anything can happen.