Gupkar Declaration was signed on August 4 last year by parties like National Conference, PDP, People’s conference and others to register protest and work against the abrogation of Article 370 which gave a special status for Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, the meeting which had finalized the declaration was not attended by the Indian National Congress. The stance of INC has become more visible now.

Backing the Gupkar Declaration, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has recently said that the grand old party of India stands strongly for the restoration of the special status of the J&K state and the associated rights of the people. Calling the repeal of Article 370 arbitrary and unconstitutional, Chidambaram said that the Centre should stop looking at other mainstream parties and the people of J&K as secessionist and anti-national. The former Home Minister also tweeted and said that ‘the arbitrary and unconstitutional decisions of the Modi government on August 5, 2019, must be rescinded’.  It can be debated whether ‘calling out the abrogation of Article 370 as unconstitutional’ is right or not as the abrogation was passed through parliament with 370 votes in favour in the Lok Sabha and 125 votes in favour in the Rajya Sabha.

Welcoming the gathering of the new mainstream regional parties of J&K, which first met last year, to fight a constitutional battle to restore the rights of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh , Chidambaram said that this development must be welcomed by all the people across India. Reacting on the formation of the new alliance of J&K political parties, including greenhorns like Awami National Conference (a congress splinter), and People’s movement founded by Shah Faisal, BJP claimed that the “Gupkar alliance” had been formed on the “behind the screen” guidance and direction of Pakistan and China and is being guided by “anti-India” forces.  It also warned that the alliance partners can face serious consequences for any “misadventure”.

Last year, the mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir held a meeting and formed the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration for the restoration of the special status of the state of J&K calling for a dialogue between all stakeholders in the issues. Talking to media after the meeting, former CM of J&K, Farooq Abdullah had said that the alliance will find ways to talk with various stakeholders for resolution of the issues related to J&K. He also added that the alliance will meet again. He further added that the alliance will also meet people from the other regions of the state for a wider discussion on the issue of the Article 370 and other issues like AFSPA.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.