At 4pm on August 2, at the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the Rajya Sabha, the government put on the table the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019. This, say opposition leaders, in hindsight, was the biggest hint that the Narendra Modi regime was planning a major move with regard to J&K.
The bill, which sought to provide the economically weaker sections in Jammu and Kashmir with 10 per cent reservation, was listed for introduction and passage after the weekend break on the morning of August 5.
As it turned out, the bill's purpose was only to provide the government with an opportunity to break to the Rajya Sabha its decision to nullify Article 370 and to introduce in the House the legislation meant to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories. And as an opposition leader said, it was to “lead them up the garden path”.
“SMSes were sent out by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister (Pralhad Joshi) to the Rajya Sabha MPs to confirm to them that the bill would be taken up on Monday morning. This had never happened before. We had actually appealed to him to alert us on upcoming legislation earlier, but he had never done it,” said an opposition leader.
So when Union Home Minister Amit Shah rose in the Rajya Sabha at 11:08am to read out the resolution with regard to Article 370 and move the legislation meant for bifurcation of J&K, the opposition was taken by surprise and was unprepared with any strategy on how to counter the move.
The bill proposed at the BAC meeting and the messages from the parliamentary affairs minister, in hindsight, were part of the government's strategy to keep the opposition guessing on what and when it was planning to do with regard to Jammu and Kashmir in the extended period of the budget session of Parliament.
Also, it turns out that it was a strategic move on part of the government to bring the Jammu and Kashmir initiatives first in the Rajya Sabha. Had the Article 370 resolution and the bill been brought in the Lok Sabha first, the opposition would have got at least a day's time to regroup on the issue and strategise.
“What proved that the amendment bill that was brought before us in the BAC meeting was a red herring was the government has conveniently withdrawn by Amit Shah,” an opposition leader said.
As it becomes clear that the extension of the budget session was planned with the intention of getting some contentious business passed, including that related to Jammu and Kashmir, opposition leaders feel that it would have been disastrous had they boycotted Parliament during the extended period. The opposition parties had mulled boycotting Parliament during the extension to protest the government allegedly rushing through legislative business without adequate parliamentary scrutiny.
“Thank God we did not boycott Parliament during the extension. Had that been the case, the Jammu and Kashmir resolution and the bifurcation bill would have been passed unanimously,” said an opposition leader.
