However, with the Congress and Farooq Abdullah fighting for their lives, things had suddenly altered. Farooq Abdullah made it plain throughout the election campaign that Article 370 and the State’s autonomy had been severely undermined over time and that they needed to be restored, while being cautious not to openly question the validity of the State’s admission. Conversely, Indira Gandhi chose not to publicly contest the significance of Article 370 but was compelled to support the cause stemming from regional disparities and establish herself as the defender of Jammu’s predominantly Hindu populace against the harsh measures taken by the Valley’s elite.
It must be acknowledged that, independent of political pressures, Congress could not have supported a bill that would have allowed the return of State Subjects who had chosen to become citizens of Pakistan during these protracted decades when thousands of Hindu State Subjects had been forced to flee the area of the State that Pakistan had forcibly occupied and were still waiting to be granted land. The relationship between the National Conference and the Congress as well as the National Conference and the Hindus took a new turn when the National Conference insisted on opening the door for the erstwhile Muslim State Subjects without resolving the Hindu complaints.