Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir and Vice President of the National Conference, rejected the BJP’s assertion that the ongoing violence in Kashmir is linked to Article 370.
Abdullah,in an exclusive interview with India Today, emphasized that the tumultuous phase in the region’s history is more directly connected to the controversial elections of 1987 rather than the constitutional provision.
Countering the BJP’s argument attributing violence and separatism to Article 370, Abdullah raised a crucial question regarding the timing of the violence. He queried why violence did not emerge immediately after the implementation of Article 370 in 1950 but instead surfaced in 1987.
Highlighting the temporal gap, Abdullah remarked, “If Article 370 was the root cause of terrorism in J&K, then terrorism should have started in 1947, not in 1987. For 40 years before 1987, you still had no terrorism.”
This assertion gains significance, particularly as the National Conference (NC) faces recurrent accusations of involvement in electoral manipulation in collaboration with the Congress. The manipulated 1987 elections, orchestrated by the Congress-NC alliance, are underscored as the pivotal trigger for the prolonged violence that has plagued Jammu and Kashmir for over three decades.