New Delhi, Aug 25 : The National Conference has promised restoration of Article 370, autonomy for J&K, amnesty to prisoners and encouraging dialogue between India and Pakistan in its election manifesto. All these promises will surely make the separatists and Pakistan, in particular, glee, but raise questions about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's decision to ally with NC.

The manifesto is not surprising given the fact that history has shown how NC was instrumental in fanning separatist feelings which finally led to full-blown terrorism in 1988 when Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state. It was under his Chief Ministership that Kashmir was overwhelmed with terror, and Pakistan almost succeeded in its nefarious designs on Kashmir.

The Abdullah dynasty has been claiming that J&K would have gone to Pakistan in 1947 if it wanted to but for Sheikh Abdullah who played an instrumental role in the then-independent- country J&K went with India. While Sheikh Abdullah was not the only factor in the 1947 decision, history shows that the dynasty after the 1947 Instrument of Accession did everything to keep the state separate from the Union of India and also created a mechanism to reinforce and keep the separatist feeling alive.

The Article 370 special status, which was pushed through a 1954 Presidential Order, in time became a weapon not only for Nehru's friend Sheikh Abdullah but down the line the latter's successors used it to create an exclusivity wherein other religions and pro-India forces were sought to be curbed.

Sheikh Abdullah was instrumental in forming the All J&K Plebiscite Front in 1955 vigorously campaigned for referendum, the idea of Kashmir's independence and also carried out anti-India propaganda. The campaign was at such a massive level that the seeds of separation got engraved in the very mindset. The front was banned in 1971 and finally dissolved in 1975 with the cadres going back to the NC.

What we see in Kashmir in the pre-2019 period had its roots in the seeds that Sheikh Abdullah sowed. He created and craftily shaped an ideology that has kept Kashmir-ism predominant in the minds of Kashmiris. He made Kashmiris believe that Hindustan is beyond the Banihal tunnel and can never be 'in' Kashmir.

It is interesting to note that there was this Jammu-Kashmir Plebiscite Front (JKPF), the parent organisation of the outlawed Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), founded by Maqbool Bhat, which unleashed a reign of terror in the valley.

Like his father, Farooq Abdullah too is a staunch believer in the autonomy of J&K. It was during his tenure of Chief Ministership that the Valley was struck by the wave of terror in 1988. Minority communities were targeted. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave the Valley. Assassinations and mass killings were carried out.

In 2000, the Farooq Abdullah-led NC government passed a resolution in the J&K Assembly seeking to restore the pre-1953 Constitutional position, which meant a prime minister for J&K among other points. The resolution was rejected by the then Central government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2016, when the NC was in opposition, it again moved a similar resolution, urging the House to convey to the Centre to reconsider the autonomy resolution. In 2017 at the party's delegates' session in Srinagar, the autonomy resolution was again passed.

The party has in almost all its public meetings been demanding full autonomy for the state. Now with Article 370 abrogated, the demand is being forcefully made at every forum. The third generation of Abdullah dynasty, Omar Abdullah, who has been a CM, also believes that autonomy is the only way out of the J & K tangle and is a pragmatic solution.

Omar Abdullah, while releasing the manifesto for the 2024 Assembly elections, promised the implementation of the autonomy resolution passed in 2000 by the J&K Assembly. He claimed that the resolution was an important milestone in the people's struggle for identity.

As NC is clear in its agenda on autonomy, Article 370 restoration and talks with Pakistan, the question is ' Is Rahul Gandhi okay with this?

Rahul's great grandfather, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru too trusted Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah but later realising his games, dismissed him (Sheikh Abdullah) as PM of J&K and subsequently arrested and jailed him for anti-India activities. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, dismissed the Farooq Abdullah government in July 1984 for allegedly failing to halt anti-India activities. Rajiv Gandhi did mend fences with the Abdullahs and Rahul Gandhi now seems to be carrying forward the legacy.

The NC is a partner of the Congress in the INDIA bloc and now in J&K, the two are in alliance to grab power. The BJP has questioned the Congress' take on the NC manifesto. But there has been a calculated silence on the issue from Congress. Does this imply that Congress supports Article 370 restoration or the autonomy agenda of the Abdullahs? The Congress has not denied this so far. The question could land Rahul Gandhi in difficulty.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)

/IANS