Analysis | What happened at PM Modi's meet with J&K leaders, what next

This was the first high-level engagement between the Centre and J&K leaders since the scrapping of J&K’s special status in August 2019. (Image : @narendramodi)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24 chaired a meeting of 14 political leaders from the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir.

This was the first high-level engagement between the Centre and the political leadership from the erstwhile state since the scrapping of J&K’s special status on August 5, 2019.

What happened at the meeting?

This meeting, which lasted three-and-a-half hours at the Prime Minister’s official residence, 7 Kalyan Marg in New Delhi, discussed delimitation process in the UT, holding assembly elections and restoration of statehood, with references to Article 370 that granted the region its special status before August 2019.

From what the leaders – both representing the Centre and the UT  – have said, the engagement, it seems, was cordial without any flare-ups and with both sides agreeing on the need for resumption of the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir.

The erstwhile state has not had an elected government since June 2018 when the Centre’s rule was imposed following the collapse of the coalition government headed by People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti after the ally Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support.

In the meeting, both the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah stressed that the delimitation exercise has to happen so that polls can be conducted and J&K gets an elected government.

Our priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy in J&K. Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and J&K gets an elected Government that gives strength to J&K’s development trajectory. pic.twitter.com/AEyVGQ1NGy

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 24, 2021

For the political leaders from J&K, the biggest takeaway, perhaps, was the assurance of assembly elections and the commitment to the restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, which was bifurcated into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, along with abrogation of Article 370, twenty-two months ago.

READ: Meeting with PM Modi was cordial and positive; election, statehood discussed, say J&K leaders

The political parties – the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of five regional political parties of J&K, including the National Conference and the PDP, the Congress, the Peoples Conference, and the J-K Apni Party, who were present at the meeting, had wanted resumption of electoral process and statehood, apart from other demands.

Almost all leaders, including four former Chief Minister of J&K - NC's Farooq Abdullah, who is the PAGD president, his son Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP and Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, said the meeting was cordial and the Prime Minister heard them out.

Azad, the first speaker among J&K leaders to speak, said it was an "open discussion" where he put forward five demands -job and land guarantee for locals, ensuring return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, the release of political prisoners, apart from restoring statehood and holding assembly elections.

Almost 80% of parties spoke on Art 370 but the matter is sub judice in court. Our demands included full-fledged statehood soon, elections to restore democracy, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, all political detainees to be released& land,employment guarantee: GN Azad pic.twitter.com/ujkJu9uEeL

— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2021

After the meeting, Omar Abdullah called the meeting "the first step in the right direction" since only dialogue can provide solutions. Sources said, he didn't get to speak inside since his father Farooq Abdullah spoke at length narrating the history of the erstwhile state and the role played by the Abdullah family.  

“The main takeaway is that the Central government is keen to restore an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest. The Prime Minister has talked about an early delimitation process, which means that they are looking at following that up with Assembly elections,” the National Conference (NC) leader Abdullah, one of the fourteen leaders who attended the meeting, was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.  Abdullah said there was the need to restore the lost trust between J&K and the Centre.

The demand to restore Article 370 also found a mention in the meeting. While NC and other parties, like the People’s Conference, said that the matter was in the Supreme Court,  Mehbooba Mufti described it as an "article of faith" for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"I told the PM that the people of J&K will struggle constitutionally, democratically, peacefully. Be it months or years, we will fight for the restoration of Article 370 in J&K as it's a matter of our identity. We didn't get it from Pakistan, it was given to us by our country, by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel," Mufti said after the meeting. She said she also urged the Centre to start a dialogue with Pakistan for finding a lasting solution to Kashmir. 

What next?

The meeting is a giant leap towards the restoration of the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir.

Not just for the signs of restoration of electoral process and statehood, but also because three of the former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who attended the meeting, were kept in detention for months from August 4, 2019 - a day before the Centre stripped J&K's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

While Farooq Abdullah was detained for seven months, his son Omar Abdullah was kept under detention for eight months. Mehbooba Mufti was released after 14 months of detention.

“The regional political parties had almost become irrelevant since the abrogation of the special status in 2019. The party workers were literally jobless. The signs of resumption of the electoral process is a welcome step indeed for the political leadership in J&K,” said a leader who did not want to be named.

Also, read: Explained | Delimitation in J&K: Here's all you need to know about the exercise

What remains to be seen, however, is how both sides would move forward after the first round of negotiations that have, for now, generated some sense of optimism.

Peoples' Conference leader Sajad Gani lone hoped there is some delivery for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting was held in a very cordial manner. We came out quite positive that hopefully there will be some delivery for the people of Jammu and Kashmir: People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone pic.twitter.com/Gaeq3W7qLx

— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2021

Not that there are no differences. One bone of contention, between the Centre and state, is Delimitation. Omar Abdullah, for example, has questioned the ongoing process wondering why it was not happening anywhere else in India.

"We said delimitation was not needed. If August 5 was to unite the state with India, then the delimitation process defeats the purpose as we are being singled out," Abdullah said.

The Prime Minister said in the meeting that he wanted to remove the ‘Dilli ki Doori’ (the distance from Delhi) as well as ‘Dil Ki Doori’ (the distance from the heart), with Jammu and Kashmir. But as Omar Abdullah said after the meeting, one meeting will not be enough for narrowing these distances.

But there are external factors, too, that will come into play. Abdullah said that the responsibility of creating an atmosphere does not rest on India alone.

Also, read: Election Commission discusses delimitation with J&K Deputy Commissioners on eve of PM’s all-party meet

“It is more a responsibility of Pakistan as we have said time and again that talks cannot continue amid terrorism. But we cannot also forget what someone like Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said -- that we can change our friends but not our neighbours,"  Abdullah told NDTV adding that Pakistan will remain the neighbour and somehow, by using back channels, India needed to dissipate this atmosphere of tension.