Narratives On Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s China Controversy

A controversy erupted after Abdullah in an interview with India Today on Sunday claimed that the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 had spawned tensions between India and China, sparking off a months-long bitter standoff in Ladakh. Abdullah said China has never accepted India’s decision to end Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and split it into Union Territories.
“Whatever they [China] are doing at LAC in Ladakh [is] all because of the abrogation of Article 370, which they never accepted,” the channel had quoted Abdullah as saying. “I am hopeful that with their support, Article 370 will be restored in J&K.”
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra came down heavily on Abdullah and said his statements were seditious and anti-national. Patra said that the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister had become the “hero of China”.
“He is a former chief minister and sitting MP and yet in an interview said that Article 370 that has been abrogated in Parliament should be installed with the help of China. A sitting MP is using such words for the country. He thinks that China’s aggression is because Article 370 has been nullified. He categorically states that since Indian Parliament abrogated Article 370, China is disturbed and that is why China’s aggression is justified. He seems to justify the expansionist tendencies of China.”
— Sambit Patra, the Hindustan Times
Senior Congress leader from Jammu and Kashmir Karan Singh has said that Farooq Abdullah’s recent articulation regarding Article 370 is “totally unacceptable.”
Dr. Singh, the son of the former ruler of J&K, said in a statement that his old friend Mr. Abdullah had made an astounding statement that Article 370 will be restored with China’s support.
“I can understand his rage and frustration at recent events including the fact that he was under house arrest for a year, an emotion that large sections in the Kashmir Valley share. However, his recent articulation is totally unacceptable. It will tend to once again provoke totally unrealistic expectations among the people of Kashmir,” he said.
He said he welcomed the release of Mehbooba Mufti after 14 months in detention and hoped that both leaders would strengthen the democratic process by “taking their agenda to the people once fresh elections take place.”
“This is the only way political stability can be restored in the State so that developmental activities in both the regions gather momentum,” he said.
The National Conference (NC) rubbished reports that its patron Farooq Abdullah said that Article 370 of the Constitution will be restored in the Kashmir Valley with China’s help. Abdullah made the remarks during a television interview.
The NC said that its leader’s comments were twisted. It said that Abdullah never justified the expansionist or aggressive intention, what is being claimed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Our patron was highlighting the anger of the people because of the abrogation of Article 370 last year. He has been doing that the past month. He said that nobody is ready to accept these changes in Jammu and Kashmir,” a spokesperson of the NC said, according to Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan.
“Our leader never said that Article 370 will be restored with the help of China, which was claimed by BJP leader Shambit Patra at a press conference. He also presented some earlier statements of Mr Farooq Abdullah in a wrong manner,” Hindustan further quoted the spokesperson as saying.
Abdullah said in a television interview on Sunday he wished that with China’s support, Article 370 of the Constitution, which conferred special status on Jammu and Kashmir, will be restored.
In the interview, Abdullah noted that China was not happy with the nullification of Article 370, which was scrapped in August last year by Parliament.
“As far as China is concerned, I didn’t bring {the} Chinese president here. Our Prime Minister invited him to Gujarat and even did jhoola sawari with him. He [PM Modi] even took him to Chennai and had food with him,” he had said.
The former chief minister of J&K said that China “never accepted” the nullification of Article 370. “They said till you restore Article 370, we won’t stop because it has now become an open issue,” he said.
“May Allah wish that our people get help from their might and our Articles 370 and 35-A get restored,” Abdullah said.
The BJP termed the comments “seditious”. “It is saddening as well as worrying. A sitting MP is using such words for the country. He thinks that China’s aggression is because abrogation of Article 370 has happened. He categorically states that since Indian Parliament abrogated Article 370, China is disturbed and that is why China’s aggression is justified. He seems to justify the expansionist tendencies of China,” BJP leader Sambit Patra said.
Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz refused to condemn former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah’s pro-China remarks. Maintaining that it was wrong to abrogate Article 370, he called upon the Centre to bring in another law to restore the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. According to him, Abdullah was expressing his angst of the people of J&K, who were allegedly under the impression that they are jailed. Opining that Abdullah did not want China to interfere in the Union Territory, the former Union Minister said that it was important to understand why the NC president is upset. Thereafter, he urged the Union government to commence talks with the mainstream leaders in J&K. Both Soz and Farooq Abdullah were put under house arrest after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
Commenting on Abdullah’s remarks, he stated, “You should ask Farooq Abdullah. It was wrong to abrogate Article 370. People want that the Centre should make an equivalent law so that the special status of J&K is restored. We signed the treaty of accession but did not merge with India. Maharaja Hari Singh’s accession was conditional.
Farooq Abdullah expressed the angst in Kashmir. India’s democracy should not behave in a way that makes people of Kashmir think that they have been jailed. Do not take Farooq Abdullah’s comment literally but try to understand why he is upset. It is not that Abdullah really wants China to meddle. The Centre should start a dialogue in Kashmir. The current Governor is a politician. There should be a dialogue with mainstream politicians. If you jail mainstream politicians, then what is left?”