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J
& K: The inside story
Romeet
K Watt
The
present dispensation
headed by Mufti Sayeed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is moving
ahead with positive strides, nonetheless, along the way there are a
few things that have taken place, by design or naively, which may
have staid ramifications for the expectations of the government to
translate its electoral promises into accomplishments. The main
opposition party, the National Conference is also monitoring the
situation on day to day basis, and though they have stopped short of
out-rightly criticizing the government, some of the indicators that
have emerged in the past few months should make the NC leadership
smile for all the right reasons.
The
much awaited expansion of the council of ministers undertaken by the
PDP-led government has been a major source of ‘on the warpath
feelings’ surfacing against the present regime with the people of
Jammu, Kashmiri Pundits, and Sikhs feeling left out in the whole
scheme of things. The exclusion of Raman Bhalla, a prominent
Congress leader from Jammu, from the council of ministers has led to
wide-spread protests in Jammu, with some of his supporters even
attempting self-immolation.
Another
prominent dalit women from Jammu also could not find place in the
council of ministers, which has been severely criticized by the
local media. It is pertinent to point that despite tall promise made
by the Congress leadership from time to time on the question of
representation to women in legislature, the present dispensation
does not have even a single ‘token’ women minister.
As
a result the Congress if the indications are to be believed, is fast
losing ground in Jammu, a region, which sent the maximum number of
its legislators to state assembly. The loss of Congress is the gain
for the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Though, in the past, for the
records, the BJP has opposed a separate statehood for Jammu, however
with the election of Prof. Nirmal Singh as the President of the
state unit of BJP, there is every likelihood that pro Jammu
statehood forces -- RSS, Jammu State Morcha, and ABVP, would join
hand with the BJP, after all Prof Nirmal Singh is an old RSS man,
and has been in the past the President of the state unit of ABVP,
the students wing of RSS.
Nevertheless,
the BJP might not do a U-turn on its stated policy, (read: no
trifurcation) however that shall not stop them from bringing
together pro-Hindutva forces together as a cohesive force, which
would really put a lot of pressure on the Congress leadership in the
region, and more so because the local Congress leadership is feeling
betrayed at the non-inclusion of some of the popular and prominent
leaders in the recently expanded council of ministers.
The
Sikh minority in the state is also up in arms against the present
dispensation for non-representation to their community in the
expanded council of ministers. Nevertheless, PDP-led government has
nominated prominent farmer leader from Jammu, Trilok Singh Bajwa to
the Rajya Sabha, the Sikh community still feels that due
representation has not been given to the Sikh community at the state
level. Some of the Sikh organizations have even launched a scathing
attack on the state and central government charging them with having
stage managed the massacres of Sikhs with the aid of Indian
intelligence agencies, and has demanded a judicial probe by a
sitting judge of the Supreme Court.
Many
believe that such antagonistic approach adopted by a section of the
Sikh leadership in the state is a part of their pressure tactics to
arm-twist the PDP-led coalition into accepting their demand for
representation in the council of ministers.
Much
accolades have been showered by the nation mainstream newspapers on
the Mufti Sayeed led government for its decision to set-up regional
autonomous council for the Ladakh (read Leh) region, however
speaking to Kashmir
TELEGRAPH, noted writer, and columnist, Balraj Puri was
of the view that the basic premise for setting up a regional
autonomous council should be regional concerns and not religious
considerations. The mechanism set-up by the government, according to
Puri has religion as an underlying premise, which in itself defeats
the purpose of setting up a region council for development for the
region.
Such
attempts, Puri points out would further cause schisms between
Muslims (predominantly Shia) and Buddhists, the two main
constituents of the populace in the Ladakh region. Moreover, the
delay in setting up of the region autonomous council for Jammu is
not going well with the people of the Jammu region. The Congress
party had this issue as a part of its election manifesto, which to a
large extent contributed to its resounding success in the election.
Nevertheless, no sooner did it join hands with the PDP for
government formation, the party buried the issue. Autonomous region
council for Jammu, it is pertinent to point out, does not find a
place in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), and such does not seem
to be on the agenda of the present dispensation, at least for
sometime.
Kashmiri
Pundits, another minority in the state, though a political
non-entity, are very vocal in expressing themselves, and as such
their assertions do carry some weight in the given scheme of things.
Mufti Sayeed has given representation to the Pundit community in
form of Raman Mattoo by inducting him as a Minister of State (MoS),
however this has not gone well with the large section of the
community, who point out that Sayeed has conveniently ignored some
of the prominent members of the community from his own party in the
process.
A
prominent PDP leader speaking to Kashmir
TELEGRAPH on the condition of anonymity said that there
is a lot of resentment not only in the rank and file in the party
but also in the Pundit community over the non-inclusion of senior
PDP leader, B K Vaishnavi. PDP functionary pointed out that the
constituency from where Raman Mattoo was declared elected to the
state legislative assembly had a voter turn out of paltry 1.62
percent, the lowest in any constituency, and as such confirms the
contentions that Mattoo does not have much of a following within his
own community.
B
K Vaishnavi, one may be bring to mind has been a close associate of
Mufti Sayeed, and has supported him though thick and thin, and as
such it is but natural for his party cadres to feel disappointed at
his non-inclusion. Incidentally Vaishnavi, is also believed to be
close to a former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, Amarjeet
Singh Daulat, presently with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO).
Daulat, if the indications are to be believed, is unhappy with Mufti
Sayeed for not including B K Vaishnavi in the council of ministers.
The
trends that are emerging may not be alarm bells for Mufti Sayeed
government, but it is essential that in his pursuit of accomplishing
economic revival of the state, he does not by design or naively,
overlooks the indicators that are emerging, due to some of his
policy measures. It is never too late to mend things or correct the
incorrect. Hopefully, he will look at the whole scheme of things in
retrospection, and do whatever he deems fit is necessary to function
as a state where all the three regions, along with all sections of
the society are in tune, and in agreement with his ‘healing
touch’ policy. Tall order, but achievable!
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