The BJP Is Strengthening Separatists

NATIONAL CONFERENCE PATRIARCH Farooq Abdullah is fuming over the Union government’s stance that there can be a discussion on the constitutional validity of Article 35A. His party has already boycotted the local panchayat elections, and, is now considering a boycott of the Lok Sabha elections, to protest any violation of Article 35A, which assures special rights to Kashmiris. When asked about the stance of the Centre, he said, there is fear in Kashmir that it wants to “take away everything that has been granted to us [Kashmiris] by the Constitution”. Edited excerpts:​​

- Barkha Dutt

You have boycotted the panchayat and local body elections, scheduled to be held in October and November.

When the announcement came, we were all ready to contest elections. I had already announced it, and said that I would fight. But, two important things happened after that: One, when Article 35A was presented before the Supreme Court of India, the additional solicitor general—appointed by the governor—instead of saying that constitutional benches have dealt with this issue, he said that we have to open this chapter and have a discussion on it. So, that posed a threat to people here, that they [Union government] are not sincere and there is an attempt to violate Article 35A and, thereby, Article 370. The second blow came when [National Security Adviser Ajit] Doval saheb started saying that the dual constituent assembly is an aberration. This also put fear that these people want to take away everything that has been granted to us by the Constitution of India. And, thus, we called a meeting of the core group of the National Conference, which decided that we will not take part in these elections, because the government of India (GOI) is not clear on the constitutional rights that the state has.

But, you are also talking in terms of boycotting the next Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Is this a serious threat?

The question is not [about being] serious or not serious. We are calling a large working committee meeting and we will see what the attitude of the GOI is going to be in the months to come. We will decide after we see their decision on these two things.

So you are saying that unless you get a categorical assurance on Article 35A and Article 370, you are considering a boycott of the assembly and Parliament polls?

Absolutely.