BJP can’t defend abrogation of Article 370 in Supreme Court, says Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that the BJP government doesn’t want a hearing of petitions challenging the validity of revocation of Article 370 in Supreme Court “as it would be impossible for them to defend it.”

“If the petitions challenging revocation of Article 370 had been in favour of the Centre, the hearing would have taken place in the Supreme Court a long ago. They (BJP government) know they can’t defend it that is why there has not been a single hearing so far,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a party convention in north Kashmir’s Bandipora.

On August 5, 2019, the Parliament scrapped J&K’s special status under Article 370 and also bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.

Around two dozen petitions filed by various political parties and individuals have challenged the validity of the J&K Reorganisation Act and the nullification of Article 370 in the Supreme Court. However, the petitions remain pending before the apex court for over two years.

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On August 28, 2019, the Supreme Court had referred these petitions to a five-judge Constitution Bench. In March last year, it had refused to refer it to a larger bench of seven judges.

“The Supreme Court can always turn the clock back,” a five-judge Constitution Bench had said on October 1, 2020, when it took up the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 and the August 5 Presidential Orders nullifying Article 370 that gave special status to J&K.

Abdullah said that the BJP government knows that its 2019 decision was “unconstitutional and undemocratic and they are afraid to face it in the court, which is why there has been no hearing.”

“If the BJP gets a majority during elections in Jammu and Kashmir, it will pass a resolution in the assembly to support its August 5, 2019 decision. To get the majority in J&K Assembly, they have created new political parties here to divide votes,” the former CM alleged.

Replying to a question on land purchased in Jammu and Kashmir by outsiders, he said that Article 370 is not about land, but about the identity of the erstwhile state.

Asked whether the NC will participate in Delimitation Commission’s December 20 meeting in New Delhi, Omar said, “There should be only one agenda before the Commission that this (delimitation of assembly seats) should be done on the basis of 2011 census and not support few political parties.”