It was Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) vs Opposition parties on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A in the Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir.
On the one hand, the BJP celebrated the day by distributing sweets in the Kashmir valley and organizing a rally in the border area of RS Pura where Union Minister Kishan Reddy urged the people of Jammu and Kashmir to choose between those implementing the constitution of India or those demanding restoration of Article 370 in the coming Assembly polls. On the other hand, in Jammu Congress and PDP leaders staged protest demonstrations sporting black bandanas to register their protest against snatching the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. JKPCC Chief Vikar Rasool Wani along with other Congress leaders staged a protest outside the party headquarters seeking early restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Wani, dressed in a black dress, was seen climbing one of the barricades during the protest demonstration.
In Kashmir Valley, the top brass of the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, however, found themselves locked inside their own homes.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah hit out at the government for allowing the BJP to celebrate and locking up others.
“This is what passes for democracy and free speech in J&K. A handful of BJP “leaders” are encouraged to celebrate today while those who would have registered their protest against what was done to J&K are locked up in homes across the valley,” Omar posted on X.
PDP Chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in a post on X said," 5th August 2019 will go down in history not just as a dark day for J&K but a blot on Indian democracy. The day when a semi-autonomous state was disempowered, dismembered & robbed of everything special & sacrosanct to us. Since then the state has been threatened into silence which is touted as ‘peace and normalcy’ to the rest of the country. Five years on the siege continues but so does the unyielding defiance & resistance. We Kashmiris refuse to be erased & unpeopled".
In a separate post on X she also wrote,"While BJP continues its charade of orchestrating ‘celebrations’ to mark the illegal revocation of J&Ks special status, PDP successfully protested against the same in Jammu. This was remarkable given that attempts were made to foil these protests. It serves well to expose BJP's false claims of normalcy in J&K.
Meanwhile, addressing an 'Ekatma Mahotsav' Rally organized in the Bana Singh Stadium of RS Pura Union Minister Kishan Reddy said the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be held in September. He also urged people in the Union Territory to vote for the BJP to power to maintain the “development tempo” and root out terrorism.
He said the activities of Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI have been largely curtailed in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on August 5, five years ago. He also warned the neighbouring country against supporting terrorism in the Union Territory.
BJP national general secretary-in-charge J&K Tarun Chugh and J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina were among the other prominent speakers.
“The Assembly elections will be held in September and we are sure that the people will vote the BJP to power with full majority given the changes which have been brought by the party by revoking Article 370 and extending B R Ambedkar’s Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir,” the minister said.
Lashing out at opposition parties, especially the Congress and the National Conference, he said they are talking about re-implementing Article 370, which has only brought “death and destruction” to Jammu and Kashmir through Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.