Article 370 back in public discourse
More than five years after the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, it is now back in public discourse. Courtesy: Resolutions and counter-resolutions for restoration of special status which dominated the first session of the J&K Assembly. BJP legislators created ruckus over the issue in the session, which concluded on Friday.
While the issue dominated the House during the five-day Assembly session, it was widely discussed on social media, especially in ‘X’ spaces, for several days.
“The issue of Article 370 has now picked up and has become a part of public discourse,” said Srinagar-based political commentator Professor Noor Baba.
“People are debating on the social media as well. There are different kinds of perspective ranging from BJP’s condemnation to it and people supporting it as well,” said Prof Noor.
He said politics around the issue had generated interest among people in the Valley, who were widely discussing it. The issue dominated all five days during the Assembly session. On the first day of the session, which convened for the first time in six years, PDP legislator Waheed Para proposed a resolution opposing the abrogation of Article 370. It then triggered a storm in the House with BJP legislators opposing it.
Two days later, amid strong opposition by BJP legislators, the J&K Legislative Assembly passed a resolution calling upon the “Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to workout constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions”. With the protests by the BJP, a group of non-BJP opposition MLAs, including from the PDP and the People’s Conference, submitted a fresh resolution in the Assembly demanding immediate restoration of Articles 370 and 35A in their original form. They also called for the reversal of all changes introduced in the Union Territory after the erstwhile state was stripped of its special status in 2019.
Sheikh Ashiq, a leader of Engineer Rashid’s party who has attended several interactions on the social media in the past few days, said people were talking actively on the social media.
“It is because of resolutions or even holding banners about 370 and 35A, the issue is back in news and people are discussing it,” he said.
“We are expecting that the elected government will make efforts to get our special status back. All eyes are on them,” he said.
Realising the fact that the issue is being discussed on social media, Sajad Lone, on the day of submitting fresh resolution, had urged people to “come on social media and endorse this resolution.”
Taking a dig at Opposition members, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged them to not base their policies on information from “WhatsApp University”.
“I assure the people that our agenda will not be decided by WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter. Our agenda will be decided by the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said on Friday in the House.
The Modi government abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Article 35A gave special rights to the permanent residents of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Para told The Tribune on Saturday that they “made efforts to raise the issue of restoration of Articles 370 and 35A.” “Since it was a historic session and whatever happened during the five days, people are now talking about it and they are questioning the leaders and making them accountable.” he said, adding that “It has now opened space and conversations.”
Despite the issue making headlines and taking the centre stage, the BJP continues that Article 370 is a history and discussing it is just a waste of time as no one can bring it back. In fact Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that no power in the world can restore Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
