Opinion - Editorials

Autonomy perspectives

THE SENSITIVE ISSUE of `autonomy' for Jammu and Kashmir is back on the centre stage of political discourse, and predictably so, with the State heading for elections to the Assembly. But the way the ruling National Conference has revived the demand — even as the party's mantle passed from Farooq Abdullah to his son, Omar Abdullah — and the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has responded to it struck a note of weary familiarity and non-seriousness. Just about two years ago, when the demand was put forth with the sanction of the State Legislature, the Centre, like now, rejected it rather peremptorily; all that it was willing to consider was "greater devolution of powers" apparently in the overall national context. In fact, the `autonomy' question for Jammu and Kashmir — widely recognised to be a critical factor in the Kashmiris' deep sense of political alienation — has, deplorably, remained clouded by self-serving, narrow, partisan and ideologically sectarian considerations.

If for the N.C. the autonomy demand has always served as a useful electoral platform especially in terms of neutralising the pro-independence line, the context in which the Abdullahs have brought it up this time has added a new crassly opportunistic dimension. Against the backdrop of the tirade they launched against the Vajpayee regime for what Mr. Omar Adbullah called the "shabby treatment" meted out to his father (read: `denial' of Vice-Presidential nomination believed to have been `promised' to him), their vehemence in pitching for `autonomy' and attacking the Centre for totally rejecting the Assembly resolution (2000) may well be seen as no more than an outburst of frustrated personal ambition and a pressure tactic. Moreover, the party that had come to power in 1996 on the autonomy plank did precious little, by way of using the leverage it enjoyed as a partner in the ruling BJP-led coalition at the Centre, to get the issue addressed with any degree of seriousness. As a consequence, if at one level the N.C.'s credibility as an interlocutor for `autonomy' stands severely eroded, at another level the cause itself is ill-served, much to the detriment of efforts to resolve the Kashmir imbroglio.

As for substantive issues, the N.C. Government has been swearing by the Assembly resolution that harped on a return to the `pre-1953' position. For its part, the Vajpayee regime, while firmly refusing to countenance such a proposition (on the ground that it would "set the clock back"), has maintained that it is not averse to `devolution of more powers' — a term that is left delightfully vague and, quite often, related to the Sarkaria Commission report. But the point is that, in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the concept of autonomy has to be understood in the context of the nation's categorical commitment to a special status for the State under the Instrument of Accession, the spirit of which is symbolised in part by Article 370; there can therefore be no question of equating its claims with those of other States. To be realistic, however, any autonomy initiative, while respecting Jammu and Kashmir's unique political heritage, has to recognise the ground realities and be coherent with the evolving federal system. Given that the elections are just a few months away, it is only appropriate that the new legislators are involved in working on details such as an autonomy package. At this stage, the Vajpayee regime would do well to come out — as a part of the political initiatives aimed at inspiring public confidence in the democratic exercise ahead — with an unequivocal assurance on restoring `autonomy' in accordance with the spirit of the solemn national commitment. This is imperative because the BJP has never made any bones about its ideological commitment to the abrogation of Article 370, and of late there have been distinctive signs of the party getting all set to hark back to its hard Hindutva line.

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