“A death sentence for idea of India…”: From Mehbooba Mufti to Omar Abdulla, who said what on SC judgement on Art 370; leaders claim to be under house arrest

“Lambi hai gham ki shaam, Magar shaam hi tou hai (the evening of sorrow could be long but it still is an evening)”, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and J&KNC leader Omar Abdullah has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court Constitution Bench judgment upholding scrapping of the special status of J&K by quoting couplets by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud unanimously upheld the abrogation of Article 370 from the state (now a Union Territory), a judgment that has been hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as historic.

“Disappointed but not disheartened. The struggle will continue. It took the BJP decades to reach here. We are also prepared for the long haul. #WeShallOvercome #Article370” wrote Omar Abdullah on his ‘X’ handle, soon after the judgment came out. In previous media interviews, Omar Abdullah had expressed shock and betrayal in the manner in which the President’s rule was first imposed and then the special status was removed while recalling the circumstances of house arrest he and other leaders were put ahead of the abrogation of article 370. The Supreme Court ruled that Article 370 was a temporary measure to ease the merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India.

"It was a mistake to abrogate Article 370. J&K political parties should have been also asked. We are disappointed with this judgment”, said Former CM J&K and Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Omar Abdullah in two separate social media posts has claimed that he has been once again put under house arrest ahead of the judgement. His claims have been rubbished by the Governor. He shared two pictures of his house gates with locked chains latched around. The Governor has called those claims ‘baseless’.

"This is totally baseless. No one has been put under house arrest or arrested due to political reasons in J&K. It is an attempt to spread rumours”, said LG Manoj Sinha. Countering Abdullahe wrote “Dear Mr LG these chains that have been put on my gate have not been put by me so why are you denying what your police force has done. It’s also possible you don’t even know what your police is doing? Which one is it? Are you being dishonest or is your police acting independent of you?”

Abdullah later shared a video clip of Ghulam Nahi Azad where he could be heard regretting Monday’s SC judgment and claimed that while Azad could still step out of his house and speak to the media, he is unable to even do so.

PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti called the judgment as worse as a death sentence for the idea of India. “Don’t lose hope. This isn’t our loss but the loss of idea of India. This too shall pass. We haven’t betrayed any but they have betrayed us. Some people will be celebrating this judgement today. Those celebrations are at tech cost of the tears of people of Jammu and Kashmir. J&K once again reduced to a jail. We have been put under house arrest, our workers have been kept in jail. But that shouldn’t scare us. Our fight for honour and dignity will continue regardless. This isn’t the end of the road for us”, said PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. She too has served as the chief minister of the state.