National Conference leader and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (File).
The people of Jammu and Kashmir face a "threat to our very existence because of the removal of Article 370 (J&K's special status was scrapped in 2019)", National Conference leader Omar Abdullah told NDTV Tuesday, a day after voting in Srinagar in the fourth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Mr Abdullah - contesting from J&K's Baramulla seat, which votes next week - called the centre's scrapping of Article 370 an "existential challenge" to the people of the former state, and said, "This is an election after we lost our constitutional safeguards... we (now) face a threat to our very existence because the removal of Article 370 removed protections (regarding) our identity, land, and jobs."
Article 370, revoked by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the centre, offered constitutional safeguards to J&K natives, including restrictions on jobs and sale of land. It was removed, the government argued in Parliament, to facilitate development in the former state.
"We have amongst the weakest domicile laws in the country. Ladakh (the union territory created after the bifurcation of the former state of J&K) has stronger domicile protection today... If nothing else, we hope, when J&K is restored to full statehood, we will ensure land and job protection."
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"I am not trying to unnerve anybody on (the issue of) land and job rights in J&K. What I am saying is correct and based on reality. Today, or tomorrow, we will face a threat and you can't deny that!"
He also said the Supreme Court's December decision - a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud upheld the government's move to scrap Article 370 - is "not final and binding (for ever)".
Six months ago, after the top court's ruling on Article 370, Mr Abdullah said he was "disappointed but not disheartened". "The struggle will continue," he said on X (formerly Twitter).
READ | Centre's Move To Scrap Special Status To J&K Valid: Supreme Court
Mr Abdullah, a former J&K Chief Minister, also pointed out "there will not always be a government at the centre that is unfriendly towards Jammu and Kashmir". He said the Congress-led INDIA bloc, which has united most of the opposition against the ruling BJP, supported the NC's stance on 370.
"I am not talking about the INDIA alliance as a whole... but constituent parties have common cause with us on this issue," he said, referring to Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool in Bengal, and Left parties, which "have publicly endorsed what we have been saying".
"As time goes on, the number of our friends will grow," he said.
Referring to his own election, Mr Abdullah - who faces Sajjad Lone of the Peoples Conference, jailed leader Engineer Rashid, and Fayaz Mir of ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party - said, "Every opponent in this election is a challenge to me, not just one person. I will fight for the release of detainees who are young, voiceless and forgotten."
On four (of seven) phases of polling so far, and buzz the BJP could be headed to a surprise defeat, he said, "Part of me hopes that what we are hearing is true. But part of me is worried it might be wishful thinking. In 2019 there was euphoria (about) numbers going down but that didn't happen."
"So far, based on the BJP's campaign, I would say they look nervous... whether that nervousness translates into less seats, we will have to wait for June 4 (when results will be declared)".
READ | In Historic J&K Ruling, Supreme Court Sets Election Deadline
This is the first major election in J&K since the Supreme Court's big ruling on Article 370, in which the court, crucially, also directed the conduct of Assembly elections latest by September this year.
J&K has not seen a state election in six years.
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