Srinagar, Nov 11: While the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) has renewed its plan to abrogate Article 370 that guarantees ‘special status’ to Jammu and Kashmir, the conspicuous silence maintained by regional parties over the touchy issue has brought them under the lens of suspicion at a time when the state is gearing up for another poll battle. In its poll manifesto ready for release on November 15, the BJP has reiterated its “commitment” to abrogate Article 370 apart from “removing obstacles hampering state’s complete integration with rest of the country.” “Article 370 is a key issue and our manifesto vehemently focuses on its abrogation. There is no place for Self-Rule and Autonomy (in J&K) and there is no need for removal of AFSPA as well,” President of BJP’s Manifesto Committee, Prof Hari Om, told Greater Kashmir on Saturday. However Prof Oms disclosures didnt evoke any reaction from the regional parties including National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and Peoples Conference. The Congress has also preferred not to speak on the issue this time. “None of the parties issued a statement in response to this fresh rant by the BJP which is working on a strategy to install its government in J&K and do away with the Article 370. And this is very strange, especially when the state is going to polls from November 25,” said a political analyst, insisting not to be identified. He said the silence maintained by the parties is in contrast to voices raised by them when a Minister in the PMO DrJitenedra Singh raked up the controversy six months ago. Singh had then asserted that the Government of India had started a debate on abrogation of Article 370. However he later issued a clarification on the issue that is seen as very sensitive and touchy in Kashmir’s political and apolitical circles. This time, the BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections talks in detail about Article 370, in two parts. The first part reads: “The party will initiate comprehensive debate in all three regions of the state to ascertain as to whether the Article 370 has benefited a common man in all these years, or it has deprived him of the benefits which people in rest of the country enjoy.” And second reads: “The party is committed for abrogation of Article 370, and if voted to power, will work towards removing all obstacles hampering state’s complete integration with the country.” Asked why the party didnt react to the BJP’s fresh call on scrapping Article 370, NC’s Additional General Secretary Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal said the BJP’s stand on the Article “is political posturing to appease their vote bank.” “Our response to such utterances is Autonomy which has constitutional validity,” he told Greater Kashmir. In May this year, however, when the issue was raked up by Dr Singh, the NCs core group met and severely criticized the statement by the minister. In an interview to this newspaper earlier this year, constitutional expert MuzaffarHussainBaig warned that any move by New Delhi to scrap the Article would “entitle people of J&K to the right to plebiscite as the revocation would reverse the situation to instrument of accession wherein wishes of people would have to be ascertained.” According to Baig, the Article 370 was “un-amendable” as the State Constituent Assembly which passed it ceased to exist after 1957. This time, the PDP too has maintained silence over the BJP’s fresh plans on Article 370.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 05:25:33 +0000
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