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Reacting to the Supreme Court’s Monday judgment upholding the BJP-led Centre’s August 2019 move to abrogate Article 370, the Congress demanded “immediate restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir”. The party also demanded that the Assembly elections in J&K be held immediately. This has been its stand over the past few years. While the party has remained ambivalent over the question of restoration of Article 370, it has been pressing for early polls in J&K.
Senior Congress leaders and lawyers, P Chidambaram and Abhishek Singhvi, spelt out the party’s position over the SC verdict at a press conference in Delhi.
Chidambaram said the verdict needed a “careful study”, adding that “Prima facie, we respectfully disagree with judgment on the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated”.
“Full statehood must be restored immediately. The aspirations of the people of Ladakh must also be fulfilled. We welcome the SC direction to hold Assembly elections. However, we believe elections should be held immediately and there is no reason to wait till September 30, 2024,” he said.
“We are also disappointed that SC did not decide the question of dismembering the state and reducing its status to two union territories,” Chidambaram added.
Singhvi said: “Democracy, and not autocracy, is the demand of every citizen of Jammu and Kashmir. Why is the BJP afraid of an elected government?”
2019 stance
The Congress’s position was different when the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 and split J&K into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh by passing the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation legislation in Parliament in August 2019. The party had then voiced its strong opposition to these measures in Parliament.
At a meeting on August 6, 2019, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) attacked the government on the manner in which the abrogation was carried out.
The CWC argued that Article 370 was the constitutional recognition of the terms of the Instrument of Accession between J&K and India in 1947, saying it deserved to be honoured till the time it was amended after consultation with all sections of people and in strict accordance with the Constitution.
On August 4, 2019, a day before the Centre moved to scrap Article 370, several J&K parties, including the PDP and Congress, met at the residence of National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah at Gupkar Road in Srinagar. They issued a joint statement on defending Article 370.
A year after the abrogation of Article 370, leaders of these parties, including the Congress, again met to uphold the Gupkar declaration, which said the parties would strive for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35.
Subsequently, this grouping of seven parties took a formal shape as the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) in October 2020, resolving to contest the District Development Council (DDC) elections together. The Congress also joined its seat-sharing talks.
Cong’s later position
In November 2020, however, the Congress said it was not part of the PAGD. The decision came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the PAGD the “Gupkar Gang”, and said it, along with the Congress, wanted to “take J&K back to the era of terror and turmoil”. Calling it an “unholy global gathbandhan”, Shah said the PAGD wanted “foreign forces to intervene in J&K”.
Since then the Congress has remained cautious over its stance on Article 370. It went on to nuance its position, perhaps after sensing the public mood and factoring in the views of several leaders.
This has been reflected in the statements made by top Congress leaders over the matter in recent months.
Speaking after unfurling the tricolour in Srinagar on January 29 this year as he wrapped up his cross-country Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was non-committal on the question of restoration of Article 370.
When pointed out specifically that the CWC resolution was not clear on whether the Congress would restore Article 370 if voted to power, he said, “My position on Article 370 and the position taken by the Working Committee is very clear. I will hand you the document…you can read it. That is what our position is.”
The political resolution that the Congress leadership discussed at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session in Raipur the following month was also silent on restoration of Article 370 if voted to power.
The resolution said the Congress would strive to restore complete statehood for Jammu and Kashmir and bring Ladakh under the protection of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, although there was no mention of Article 370 in it.
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