 "NC-Congress alliance to form govt in J&K: How they went from rivals to partners")
The National Conference’s (NC) alliance with the Congress is set to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Election Commission’s data, the NC has won 42 seats, while its ally Congress has bagged six seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured 29 seats and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti has got three. Seven Independents have won and one seat each has been bagged by Jammu & Kashmir People Conference, AAP, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) .
The NC-Congress forged a pre-poll alliance this time, with Omar Abdullah’s party contesting 51 of the 90 Assembly seats and the Grand Old Party fielding candidates on 32. The two partners had “friendly fights” in five other constituencies. One seat was left for the CPI(M) and another for the J&K National Panthers Party.
As the NC-Congress alliance is poised to return to power in J&K, here’s a look at their relationship throughout the years.
Nehru-Sheikh Abdullah era
Maharaja Hari Singh , the Hindu ruler of Muslim-majority Kashmir, signed the Instrument of Accession to India in October 1947 when the erstwhile princely state was invaded by Pakistan-backed Pashtun tribesmen.
A year later, he appointed Sheikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister of an interim government, a post equivalent to the chief minister at the point.
J&K’s Constituent Assembly went to polls in 1951, with the NC winning 73 out of 75 seats. Two years later, Abdullah was sent to jail and his government was dismissed by Karan Singh, the son of the former ruler Hari Singh and the Regent of J&K. This was apparently done on the orders of PM Jawaharlal Nehru, according to an Indian Express report.
NC’s Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, who succeeded Abdullah, served as the PM from 1953 to 1963. The party won the 1957 and 1962 Assembly elections while Abdullah was in jail.
Mohammed’s resignation in 1963 led to his loyalist Kwaja Shamsuddin succeeding him. However, even he stepped down from the post in early 1964 allegedly due to Nehru’s pressure, the newspaper report noted.
The NC was then forced to pick Congress’ Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq as the PM. The post of Prime Minister was abolished in J&K in 1964.
The two parties merged a year later. In the 1967 Assembly polls, the Congress bagged 61 of 75 seats, while the NC faction headed by Mohammed got eight.
Abdullah was released from jail later that year. But he was put behind bars again and even exiled from the then-state.
The times of Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah
Ties between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah improved after the signing of an accord in 1975.
Abdullah became the chief minister at the time. He also revived his party, the NC. After Congress pulled support in March 1977, the state was briefly put under the President’s rule. The Assembly elections held later that year saw Abdullah returning to power. He died in office in 1982.
Farooq Abdullah and Congress
After his father’s demise, Farooq Abdullah took over as J&K’s chief minister. The NC won the Assembly elections in 1982.
As per the Indian Express report, the NC and the Congress saw a dip in relations in July 1984 when Governor Jagmohan dismissed the Farooq-led government after 12 MLAs and an Independent withdrew support. He then installed the government of Ghulam Mohammad Shah-led Awami National Conference (ANC), a breakaway faction of the NC.
Two years later, Jagmohan dismissed the ANC government led by Shah, imposing the Governor’s rule. This led to unrest in J&K, forcing Rajiv Gandhi to mend ties with Farooq Abdullah.
With Congress’ support, Farooq returned to power in November 1986. The NC and the Congress contested the 1987 Assembly elections together, which were widely considered “rigged” in favour of their alliance. The coalition won 63 seats and the Muslim United Front (MUF) bagged four.
Farooq resigned in 1990 and J&K, which was plunged into armed militancy, was put under the President’s rule until 1996.
In the 1996 Assembly elections, the NC was triumphant in 57 seats, the Congress seven and the BJP eight. The NC had fought the polls as part of the United Front but left it two years later.
Omar Abdullah and Congress
A shocker came in 1999 when Farooq joined hands with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). His son, Omar Abdullah, was made a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government.
Omar quit as a Minister of State (MoS) in the Union government in December 2002. In the 2002 Assembly elections in J&K, held months after the Gujarat riots, the NC’s fortunes took a hit due to its alliance with the BJP which worked against the former in the Kashmir Valley.
Omar, the then NC chief, even lost his family’s traditional seat of Ganderbal.
The Congress and the PDP formed the government in J&K together. The NC broke ties with the saffron party in July 2003.
The Congress’ alliance with the PDP collapsed in 2008. The NC and the Grand Old Party fought the Assembly polls separately that year but forged a post-poll alliance to form the government. Omar took oath as the chief minister of J&K.
The Congress and the NC joined hands to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2009, with Farooq being inducted into the UPA Cabinet.
The two parties went their separate ways after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which saw the BJP coming to power at the Centre. Both NC and the Congress failed to win a single seat in J&K in the Lok Sabha elections.
There were disagreements between the parties before the elections when Congress opposed Omar’s proposal to create 700 new administrative units in J&K, reported Indian Express.
In 2017, the Congress supported Farooq in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election, leading to the two parties coming together again. They contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in a coalition, with the Congress fielding candidates on the two seats in Jammu and having a friendly fight with the NC in two others.
The Congress blamed the NC for its drubbing in the elections, alleging Farooq and Omar Abdullah did not campaign for the Grand Old Party in Jammu. The NC denied the charges and reportedly decided to snap ties with Congress. It also planned on contesting the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections separately.
However, the BJP-led Centre abrogated Article 370 in August 2019 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh.
The NC and the Congress, part of the INDIA bloc, contested the Lok Sabha elections together earlier this year. They fielded candidates for three seats each. While the NC won two constituencies, the Congress drew a blank.
Omar’s NC and Rahul Gandhi’s Congress contested the Assembly polls jointly and the alliance has worked in J&K.
With inputs from agencies
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