Political slugfest in Jammu and Kashmir marks 4 years without Article 370

The state’s other major political party, the National Conference, said its office had been sealed by police and it too questioned the “normalcy narrative”.

Leaders of Kashmiri political parties hit out at the Union government on Saturday for the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, while the lieutenant governor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders said people in the region were much better off — the two sides sparring on the day that marked four years since Article 370 was withdrawn.

A BSF personnel stands guard on a street, a day before the fourth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, in Srinagar, Friday. (PTI)

Security was stepped up in the state, the Amarnath Yatra called off, and forces were engaged with militants in at least two locations as the symbolism of the anniversary put the state on edge, especially at a time when the Supreme Court (SC) is hearing the legality of the August 5, 2019, decision by the Narendra Modi government to rescind the special constitutional protections.

“I’ve been put under house arrest along with other senior PDP leaders today. This comes after a midnight crackdown where scores of my party men are illegally detained in police stations. GOIs false claims about normalcy to the SC stands exposed by theirs actions driven by paranoia,” said Peoples Democratic Party (PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, in a post on the social media service X (formerly Twitter), where she also posted pictures of her locked house entry.

J&K L-G Manoj Sinha said the decision four years ago — when the Union government removed the special protections to the region under Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union territories — has laid a new foundation for growth and prosperity.

“On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended the discriminatory system which harboured separatism and nepotism. He ushered sustained peace, dignity, security, equal access to resources for new aspirations, new resolutions for J&K’s glorious future,” he said.

Sinha said the biggest change is visible on the ground as people are living freely after so many decades. “Street protests, closure of schools, colleges for 150 days a year, stone pelting and separatism have ended”

The BJP too celebrated the day in public meetings in Srinagar, where its rivals staged protests, with the Congress calling it a “black day”.

In Jammu, the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the People’s Conference and the PDP staged separate protests to mark the day.

The state’s other major political party, the National Conference, said its office had been sealed by police and it too questioned the “normalcy narrative”.

“True to form and in keeping with the clampdown on mainstream democratic activities organised by parties opposed to 5th August 2019, the JKNC office has been sealed by the police. No one is being allowed in or out of the office. These steps betray the nervousness of the administration & render hollow their claims regarding great improvements in the last 4 years,” NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar said in a post on X.

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah too hit out in a post, tagging a TV channel’s video purporting to show the progress over the last four years. “On a day 3 soldiers laid down their lives in the line of duty in Kashmir we are treated to this puff piece by the latest entrant in to the ranks of godi media. Amazingly ALL the infrastructure projects they have highlighted here came before 2019, the roads & tunnels were started thanks to Dr Manmohan Singh, as was the Chenab railway bridge. The Gulmarg gondola was conceived & inaugurated when Dr Farooq Abdullah was CM.”

Congress members led by the party’s J&K chief, Vikar Rasool Wani, held a demonstration outside the party’s headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk, demanding restoration of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, protection of land rights and 100% reservation for locals in jobs.

Mufti posted a video of PDP workers being whisked away by police, where the party claims they are being held illegally. “On one hand, giant hoardings calling upon Kashmiris to ‘celebrate’ the illegal abrogation of Article 370 have been put up across Srinagar. Whereas brute force is being used to choke the actual sentiment of the people. Hope the Hon’ble SC takes cognisance of these developments at a time when Article 370 has come up for hearing,” she added.

“In a few months, it will be nine years since the last Assembly elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir. We would have been preparing for another election but even the first elections are yet to take place,” said former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is know the chairman of Democratic Progressive Azad Party.

On August 2, the Supreme Court began day-to-day hearings of a clutch of petitions pertaining to Article 370 of the Constitution, which conferred special status on Jammu & Kashmir but was abrogated in August 2019 through a presidential order.

Observing prior to the hearing that the challenges were a “pure question of constitutional validity”, a five-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, set down the matter for an extensive hearing from August 2.

On the first day, the Union government told the bench that Article 370 was not an embodiment of any special status to Jammu and Kashmir but was “only a stop gap arrangement” in the process of its “complete integration” with the Union of India.

On Thursday, the most recent day of the hearing, the Supreme Court fleshed out two issues for its consideration: on whether Article 370 was a permanent feature of the Constitution and if not, whether the process adopted for its abrogation by the Centre was correct.

As the arguments remained inconclusive, the bench posted the matter for hearing on August 8.