Though National Conference and former Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state Omar Abdullah during an interview with a top news channel in Delhi cleared doubts about his party’s position on scrapped Article 370 and article 35 A but people still don’t believe his words because of his credibility deficit created by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s decision of returning to power without seeking restoration of pre-1953 position in 1975 and Farooq Abdullah’s decision of contesting 1996 election without seeking restoration of the autonomy from the then Narshima Rao led Congress Government which had said “ sky is the limit within Indian constitution”. While the fact remains that National Conference leaders cannot reduce credibility deficit just by few political statements over the scrapped special status of Jammu & Kashmir on top news channels, the party President Farooq Abdullah still speaks in conflicting voices in Srinagar and Jammu over a sensitive issue of aspirational politics like delimitation of assembly constituencies. Never forget that speaking in conflicting voices in Srinagar and over a key issue of aspirational politics like delimitation of assembly constituencies does not reduce but intensifies the credibility deficit of National Conference the grand old party of Jammu & Kashmir. Before talking about the trust deficit between the government and the people of Jammu & Kashmir, the mainstream parties themselves particularly National Conference will have to recover from the crisis of credibility deficit with the intent of reducing their increasing crisis of public disconnect in their political strong holds in Jammu & Kashmir.
The political inconsistency of National Conference over the constitutional status of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state in 1975 by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and by Farooq Abdullah in the year 1996 in one way or the other is the main cause for the downgrading and division of the state in August 2019.
For mainstream leaders particularly Abdullahs’ and Muftis’ showing consistency on their party positions over issues concerning constitutional future of Jammu & Kashmir by actions is more important than clarifying doubts about their party positions over the constitutional future of Jammu & Kashmir in political statements on news channels in Delhi. National Conference leaders particularly Abdullahs’ will have to speak in one voice but not in conflicting voices in Srinagar and Jammu or Srinagar and Delhi over the decisions concerning constitutional future of Jammu & Kashmir, be it delimitation of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies or restoration of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir and timing of assembly elections. In fact the political inconsistency of National Conference over the constitutional status of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state in 1975 by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and by Farooq Abdullah in the year 1996 in one way or the other is the main cause for the downgrading and division of the state in August 2019.
