The Supreme Court’s recent verdict upholding the Centre’s 2019 decision to end the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has altered the political landscape of the Union Territory.
The immediate fallout was evident from the silence of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, also known as the Gupkar alliance. The absence of a joint statement by the four-year-old political conglomerate comprising Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference (NC), Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Muzaffar Shah’s Awami National Conference (ANC), and the CPI(M)’s M.Y. Tarigami to the verdict has been conspicuous. All the four leaders, who are also petitioners before the Supreme Court, chose to react strongly but separately to the verdict. To date, there has been no attempt to sit together or plan for the future, unlike earlier occasions when they would go into a huddle and put up a joint face.
The Gupkar alliance, which includes regional parties that are otherwise political rivals in J&K, came into being on August 4, 2019, just a day before the Centre decided to dilute the provisions of Article 370 and split the erstwhile State of J&K into two Union Territories. The declaration, which was signed by seven political parties, had warned that “modification, abrogation of Articles 35A and 370, unconstitutional delimitation or trifurcation of the State would be an aggression against the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh”. The representatives of the political parties resolved “to remain together and stand united in their struggle for safeguarding [the] identity, autonomy and special status of J&K”.
