The National Conference has once again raised the demand for autonomy in the state in a bid to corner the PDP in the Legislative Assembly. However the criticism of the party is misplaced towards the ruling PDP-BJP coalition. Though PDP has not done much to fulfill its electoral promises, but the NC can’t claim brownie points over the issue of autonomy. The party can’t don the mantle of victimhood to seek the restoration of autonomy when it knows that at the Centre the dispensation is of BJP. The party had the numbers in its favour when it came to power after the 1996 elections on the plank of autonomy. Though a resolution was passed by the Assembly asking Centre that the autonomy of the state shall be restored, it was rejected by the Centre. Despite that Omar Abdullah continued to remain the Minister in the Vajpayee government. But the party has been harping on to the autonomy even as its roadmap over the restoration of autonomy puts the onus on the Central government to remove all those Acts and Presidential Orders under which the different Articles of the constitution of India and the entries in the Union list have been extended to the state. Not only in 1996, in the Indra-Shiekh accord, following which the NC founder became the Chief Minister of the state, the former Prime Minister, Indra Gandhi, had made it explicitly clear to the Sheikh Abdullah that the clock can’t be turned back. The NC’s claim over the autonomy is also misplaced as it doesn’t seek the withdrawal of all the acts of the Union of India to the state.
It is seeking a partial roll back. The fact remains that it is only in opposition when the NC goes all out in favour of autonomy while as in government it maintains a complete silence over the issue. Though every party is entitled to have a political vision and a plank, but the NC can’t befool the people when the autonomy has become a redundant word which has no takers. If the party lacks the power and the prowess to convince the Central government over the autonomy proposal, it can’t raise the issue regularly. However there lies a bigger responsibility on the current PDP-BJP government to ensure that there is no further erosion of the special status of the state which has been enshrined in the Article 370. The state can’t afford to implement all laws of the centre in letter and spirit particularly when there are grave issues that confront the people. Government needs to ensure that both peace and stability is completely ensured in the Kashmir region and the special rights of the people particularly with respect to the owning of the land under the state subject law are preserved. Any change in the current legal relation of the state with the Union of India will do no good to the state. Government has already clarified that there would be no fiddling with the special status of the state and has ruled out the setting up of Sainik Colonies and the exclusive townships for migrants. But more importantly the applicability of newer central laws to the state shall be ensured only after it doesn’t affect the special status of the state.
The editorial first appeared in print edition of June 1, 2016.
