PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that she won't contest another assembly election till Article 370 is not brought back in Jammu & Kashmir. "I am never going to fight assembly elections as long as Article 370 is not restored. It's more of an emotional issue for me," the former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
"Whenever I took an oath [as J&K Chief Minister], it was under two constitutions — the Constitution of India and the Constitution of J&K — with two flags at the same time. It's more of an emotional issue for me," Mufti said.
The Centre in August 2019 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The move was opposed by various parties, including Mufti's PDP, as it effectively ended the autonomy that the state had enjoyed since India's independence from Britain in 1947.
Article 370 had given Jammu and Kashmir significant power to govern its own affairs, including the ability to pass laws and control its own land ownership. However, its revocation has brought the state under the direct control of the Indian government, which has been seen as an infringement on the rights of the state's residents.
The Centre argued that revoking Article 370 was necessary for the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India, and for improving the region's economic and social development. However, parties like PDP and NC accused the government of disregarding the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of using the revocation as a means of suppressing dissent and increasing its control over the region.
Jammu and Kashmir had its own constitution and flag until the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. The Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, which came into force on January 26, 1957, defined the powers of the state government and its relationship with the central government of India. The constitution also guaranteed certain special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, including the right to own land, employment, and education.
The Jammu and Kashmir flag, also known as the 'state flag', had three equal horizontal stripes of dark red, white, and green with a chakra in the middle. The flag symbolized the state's identity and was used alongside the Indian national flag on official occasions. However, after the revocation of Article 370, the use of the Jammu and Kashmir flag was banned, and it was replaced by the Indian national flag as the only official flag of the region.
Mehbooba Mufti was the last CM of J&K. She took oath under the J&K flag and the Tricolour.