Will Ghulam Nabi Azad's new stand on Article 370 pave way for alliance with BJP?

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s public articulation about the impossibility of restoring special status for Jammu and Kashmir indicates his unwillingness to fight for the contentious issue, which had brought several Kashmiri parties on the same page, and an attempt to reorient the political discourse in the troubled region.

Azad has taken the gamble to omit Article 370 from his agenda with a calculation that he could wriggle out without offending competing interests while floating his own party as Congress has upped the ante with a senior leader saying this was expected as his final destination is the BJP as he cannot demand the restoration of special status.

The veteran leader, who quit Congress last month after writing a stinging letter criticising Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, made the comments at a public meeting in Baramulla where he said he will not allow parties to “exploit and mislead” people in the name of special status when no party is in a position to implement their promise.

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His remarks have the potential of marking him as one treading the road to the future with the help of the BJP, which has used its numerical superiority in Parliament to bifurcate the state into two union territories and parallel revoke special status through an executive order notified in Gazette.

Congress has already opened fire with its General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh saying it is a “complete U-turn”. Ramesh told DH, “Azad has now changed his stand from the one he articulated in Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2019. I am not surprised, as he is executing Modi's plan only. We are sure more such changes are in the offing.”

The Congress has earlier pointed to Azad’s perceived closeness to the BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emotional farewell speech for him in Rajya Sabha, conferring Padma Bhushan and allowing him to retain MP’s bungalow in Lutyens Delhi citing security concerns.

Also read: Interpreting Azad's tightrope walk during his J&K visit

The remarks are seen in political circles as Azad’s attempt to position his party, which will be announced in ten days, as an alternative to National Conference and PDP.

The revocation of Article 370 has been an emotive issue in the troubled region and Azad appears to inject some sort of realism into the political discourse by talking about the impossibility of restoring it when none of the parties fighting for it has the numbers on their side.

He used the opportunity to take potshots at the “50 seat party” Congress too, saying he does not see it getting 350 seats where it can push for restoring special status. The remarks also indicate that Azad is more inclined to talk about restoring statehood, as restoration of special status is not going to happen under BJP rule.

While taking a divergent position on Article 370 compared to other local parties, Azad had earlier sought to distance himself from the discourse about him acting at the behest of the BJP, saying that they cannot complement each other electorally and it was not a viable proposition.