In the fall of 2020, The decision was taken to give a formal shape to the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a political alliance of Jammu and Kashmir. It was not an electoral alliance, though.
In the Gupkar Declaration 2.0 in 2020, the leaders of six parties endorsed the previous resolution and added an interesting phrase: “Nothing about us without us”. After the 2024 Assembly elections, it has progressed or regressed to ‘nothing about us at all.’
Interestingly, the PAGD partners had come together as a conglomeration “to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s special status”. This new political formation comprised the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference [JKNC], the People’s Democratic Party [PDP], the Communist Party of India [Marxist], the Awami National Conference [ANC], and even the Sajad Lone-led Peoples Conference and the Peoples Movement headed by Shah Faesal.
The stated position of this amalgam was unanimously in favour of turning the clock backwards and restore the region’s constitutional position within the ambit of the Constitution of India. It demanded the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, besides going back to the position Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed on 4 August, 2019.
But the verbal slugfest between the leaders of the PAGD continued for a while and it turned ugly during the DDC elections. And eventually, it ended as a disaster.
In Ladakh and Kargil, despite ideological, regional and political differences, political leadership unite for a joint cause, but in Jammu and Kashmir, the Unionists often fight each other for no cause.
What eventually happened to this alliance, the PAGD, explains the current state of politics in Jammu and Kashmir. Political pundits had described this coming together of political parties of different ideological strands as “political resistance”, but also added that “only time will tell how significant” it’s impact will be on the region’s political landscape.
The Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] had ridiculed the Gupkar Alliance, calling it “The Gupkar Gang” instead of the PAGD.
On the demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional position, these political formations could have joined hands. There was no reason for them to fight each other instead, but they failed to draw any lessons from history or from the struggle launched by the people of the Leh and Kargil. The Leh Apex Body [LAB] and the Kargil Democratic Alliance [KDA] have shown that convergence is possible despite ideological and other difference.
Unfortunately, the political discourse in J&K is of the lowest standard that attaching any hopes and expectations would end up as disappointments.
