Mehbooba remembered Lord Shri Ram on Article 370
Former nominated J&K chief ministers — Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — are, it appears, in a state of helplessness. They are losing their confidence with each passing day. It also appears. A streak of defeatism has gripped them. It also appears. It also appears that they have finally come to realize that the CJI D Y Chandrachud-headed five-judge constitutional bench may dismiss the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the reform scheme as introduced by the Narendra Modi government on August 5-6, 2019, to fully integrate the erstwhile State of J&K into India by reading down seditious Article 370 and meet the Ladakhi Buddhists’ age-old demand seeking independence from the oppressive, discriminatory and separatist Kashmiri Muslim leadership and Union Territory status for the trans-Himalayan region by bifurcating J&K into two union territories. The reason is the pertinent questions the constitutional bench put and significant quarries and meaningful observations made on August 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 16, and 17 while hearing the arguments advanced by the petitioners’ lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Zafar Shah, Rajeev Dhavan and Dushyant Dave and the manner in which these lawyers responded. Indeed, many of the arguments advanced by these lawyers were as untenable and spurious as they were beyond the confines of the Indian Constitution and its preamble.
That both radicalized Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who like their predecessors, including Sheikh Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Sayeed, and Ghulam Nabi Azad, left no stone unturned when in power, to promote hostile elements and jeopardize the general socio-cultural, religious, economic and political rights and interests of the people of Jammu and Ladakh, especially the Hindus, the Buddhists, and Sikhs, could be seen from the manner in which they invoked God, Lord Ram, and Lord Krishna on August 16 and 17 expressing hope that they might help them get back the seditious Article 370 and discriminatory Article 35A and help them reunite Ladakh with J&K and achieve full state status for the entire region.
What exactly did they say? On August 16, Mehbooba Mufti was in the Supreme Court to personally see how the petitioners’ lawyers were pleading the case of the protagonists of Kashmiri Muslim sub-nationalism. And it was in the apex court’s premises itself that she invoked Lord Ram and his “Raghu” clan and said that “the promise made by Indians (read Nehru & Co) to J&K natives in 1947 was on trial in the Supreme Court in which ‘fortunately’ they still have some faith.”
“This country cannot be run on majoritarianism. This country will be run as per the Constitution…The issue of abrogation of Article 370 pertains to the people of India and the promise they made to the natives of Kashmir in 1947…We know what has happened to the institutions of the country. Fortunately, we still have some faith in the Supreme Court of this country. I want to appeal to them that the country believes in the principle ‘Raghukul reet sada chali aayi, pran jaye par vachan na jaye’. I am not talking about those who kill in the name of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and lynching in the name of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. I am talking about those of the majority community people who believe in ‘Ramchandra ji’, his vachan (promise) that ‘Raghukul reet sada chali aayi, pran jaye par vachan na jaye’ so I think that ‘vachan’ is on trial today in the Supreme Court”[1].
And not content with Lord Ram’s invocation, Mehbooba Mufti, on August 17, invoked Lord Krishna. She even went to the extent of asserting the Supreme Court judges would be called Dhritarashtra in case they covered their eyes and not ruled in favour of the pre-August 5, 2019 position. In fact, she, inter-alia, said: “It is not just a legal issue for me; it is an emotional issue for the people of J-K…Now the Supreme Court has to decide whether they want to play the role of Lord Krishna or Dhritarashtra. If they want to play the role of Krishna they have to see whatever wrong things happened with us after the abrogation of Article 370. If they don’t see this then like Drishtrashtra they have covered their eyes”[2].
Omar follows Mehbooba Mufti’s footsteps
The story of Omar Abdullah was no different. He also followed in the footsteps of Mehbooba Mufti. On August 17, he invoked God and appealed to God to give National Conference success.
“We are fighting and we are there with a hope for justice. We have not left any stone unturned; we engaged the best lawyers and their performance was appreciated by all. The hearings are on and we hope the judges will be convinced by our arguments. It will go on and we are waiting…The party could not have done better than hiring Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramanium to fight the case in the Supreme Court.
We hired the best lawyers. Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramanium are two of the top five lawyers in the country…Win or loss is in the hands of God. A human being can only try and we did not leave any stone unturned. Now, we should pray to God to give us success,” said Omar Abdullah while addressing his party workers at the party headquarters Nawa-i-Subah, Srinagar[3].
What does all this indicate? It only indicates the state of helplessness they are in.
It needs to be underlined that much water has flown down the rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, and even Ravi after August 5, 2019. And, any ruling on the part of the Supreme Court that seeks to reverse even slightly the process as initiated after August 5, 2019, would be fraught with dangerous consequences. There are potent, cogent, and constitutional reasons to believe that the Supreme Court would think thousand times before giving any ruling that has the potential of unsettling the settled.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Mehbooba Invokes Ram, Says ‘Vachan’ Is On Trial Today In SC – Aug 16, 2023, Kashmir Observer
[2] Supreme Court hearing on Article 370 abrogation: Mehbooba Mufti, other J&K leaders express hope for justice – Aug 17, 2023, ToI
[3] Have Engaged Best Lawyers In SC To Challenge Article 370 Revocation: Omar Abdullah – Aug 17, 2023, Outlook
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