JAMMU: Organisational Secretary of BJP Ashok Koul has said in an interview with a Srinagar-based news agency that his party will oppose the resolution on Article 370 in the Legislative Assembly. He was responding to a question on National Conference (NC) plans to introduce a resolution in the coming assembly session starting on November 4 in Srinagar.
In its manifesto during the recent assembly elections, the NC had said that it will bring a resolution for restoration of Article 370 on the very first day the assembly convenes. The party had gone to the electorate with this promise and it appears it wants to redeem this pledge. However, it is likely that any resolution regarding the abrogated article of the constitution will put it on a path of confrontation with the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
The NC had made many other promises regarding free electricity up to 200 units per month to all households, free travelling for women in public transport and sundry other things. By bringing a resolution on Article 370 in the assembly, the NC hopes to drown all noises that is likely in the coming days about its other promises.
It bears mention here that the state assembly has no powers to restore Article 370, or Article 35-A which were abrogated on August 5, 2019. Within the NC, this resolution is expected to silent dissent by party leaders like Srinagar MP Agha Ruhullah. It is also expected to help the party in consolidating its hold on the electorate, particularly in Kashmir, as it is a sentimental issue there.
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This also means that the NC and the BJP are on a path of confrontation in the coming days. It bears mention here what Modi, who was Gujarat Chief Minister in 2013 when he was picked up to lead the BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, had said then. In a rally at Madhopur in Punjab next to the huge statue of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Modi had said removing Article 370 from the Constitution would be one of his priorities if he became the PM.
Veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar, Prakash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Dr Jitendra Singh (now a minister in PMO) and several others had attended this June 23, 2013, rally. Mukherjee had died in Srinagar after 44 days of incarceration without being charged in Srinagar on June 23, 1953. The resolution on Article 370 by NC is thus likely to open old wounds, narratives and counter narratives.
The NC has 42 seats in the 90-member assembly, with outside support from six MLAs of the Congress, and five Independent legislators, besides one member of the CPM. Three MLAs of its arch rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are also likely to support the NC.
On the other hand will be ranged the BJP with 29 seats which is the main opposition party in the assembly.
“No government in J&K can bring back Article 370. There should be no confusion about this,” Ashok Koul has now declared. “If the NC government insists on this, we will oppose it. As the main opposition party, our MLAs will not support any resolution on Article 370.”
He said that the BJP is committed to protect J&K from sliding back to a “ time of chaos and violence’’.
The J&K government plans to introduce a resolution on Article 370 in the upcoming assembly session and also reinstate the practice of `‘Darbar Move’’, NC MLA and spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq had earlier said.
Sadiq had also described the abrogation of Article 370 as “unconstitutional” and expressed hope that opposition parties, including the BJP, would back the resolution in the assembly.
