Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday played on the front foot and brought the Gupkar Alliance to his doorstep. Setting his terms and dangling the carrot of statehood and elections above the heads of the supposed leaders of J&K, the PM has shown who the boss is.
The prime minister, accompanied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, received the leaders from eight parties, including the National Conference, the PDP, the BJP and the Congress. While the meeting lasted for more than three hours, none of the leaders who had been aggressively batting for the rollback of Article 370, opened their shutters and tried to derail the conversation, suggesting that PM Modi’s stature was too big for any of them to go against.
Omar Abdullah, who in the past had taken jibes at PM Modi for not being able to discuss Article 370 sounded defeatist and said that it wasn’t going to be restored.
“It took the BJP 70 years to fulfill its political agenda for (Article) 370. Our struggle has just started. We don’t want to fool people by telling them we will get 370 back in these talks. It will be foolish to expect 370 will be back — there has been no indication it will be restored by the current government.” said Abdullah.
Mark my words & save this tweet – long after Modi Govt is a distant memory either J&K won't be part of India or Art 370 will still exist 2/n
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 27, 2014
Interview with Omar Abdullah 2014.
BBC host-Modi "has very strong opinions on Jammu and Kashmir. He says full integration has to be pushed forward."
Abdullah-it doesn't matter what Modi wants. Can't change 370 without calling into question J&K accession.https://t.co/OT0NRMz3dl
— Jeff M. Smith (@Cold_Peace_) August 14, 2019
Meanwhile, Abdullah was also forced to give out a statement, praising the PM. One can only imagine how hard it must have been for Omar Abdullah to enunciate those words.
“There were no pre-conditions to talks. We did not have to surrender any of our demands. They didn’t rebuke us for all that we said or demanded,” he said.
Terming the meeting “cordial” and “positive”, People’s Conference leader Muzzafar Hussain Baig said PM Modi assured that he will do everything to make Jammu and Kashmir a zone of peace rather than conflict. “All leaders demanded statehood. To which PM said, the delimitation process should conclude first and then other issues will be addressed. It was a satisfactory meeting. There was complete unanimity for restoring peace in Jammu and Kashmir,” Baig added.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters after the meeting, Congress leader and one of the dissidents in the rebellious G-23 group of senior Congress functionaries, Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Home Minister said the government is committed to granting statehood to J&K.
Delimitation the key to J&K’s fortunes
According to government sources, the main focus of the meeting was to strengthen the democratic process. PM Modi said that the government is fully committed to the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir. He stressed that holding assembly elections just like the successful conduct of District Development Council elections is a priority.
“Today’s meeting with political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir is an important step in the ongoing efforts towards a developed and progressive J&K, where all-round growth is furthered,” tweeted PM Modi after the meeting.
Today’s meeting with political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir is an important step in the ongoing efforts towards a developed and progressive J&K, where all-round growth is furthered. pic.twitter.com/SjwvSv3HIp
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 24, 2021
We are committed to ensure all round development of J&K.
The future of Jammu and Kashmir was discussed and the delimitation exercise and peaceful elections are important milestones in restoring statehood as promised in parliament.
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) June 24, 2021
Simply put, the J&K leaders behaved like a bunch of obedient school kids in front of headmaster PM Modi and it augurs well for the two union territories. Earlier, the leaders of the valley did not have any regard for the central leadership of the country as the funding for their party activities stemmed from the conflicts and terrorist activities. However, with the abrogation of article 370, these parties are looking to survive and the survival route only goes through PM Modi and miffing him could mean losing out on the existence battle.
