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| Mortally afraid Congress has started applying brakes | | Impact of NaMo Govt on J&K | | Neha
JAMMU, June 9: The formation of Narendra Modi government at the Centre on May 26 has its impact on the Congress, which is sharing power with an essentially separatist National Conference (NC). The Congress is so mortally afraid of another defeat that it has started applying brakes to stall the NC's controversial moves. The NC, for instance, had planned to constitute the first ever Law Commission for the state, but could not succeed because the Congress put its foot down and said that the Law Commission, if appointed in the form the whole move was conceived, would trigger another controversy and help the BJP "polarize" the situation in the state and promote its electoral chances in the assembly elections, which could be held anytime between September and December this year. It happened on June 3.
What exactly transpired on June 3 in the Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah? That day, the State Cabinet deferred the proposal that contemplated formation of the Law Commission following the Congress' strong opposition to it. One of the Congress Ministers from Jammu reportedly said in the meeting that "linking the establishment of Law Commission for Jammu & Kashmir with Article 370 would mean putting oil in the ongoing fire" and would only help "certain party" (read BJP) to polarize the situation in the state.
A report said that "some of the Congress Ministers pointed out that there was no need to link the framing of Law Commission with Article 370 and only a simple proposal should have been placed before the Cabinet". "There is already a controversy and heated debate over Article 370 of the Constitution of India and linking the establishment Law Commission for Jammu & Kashmir with this Constitutional provision (Article 370) would amount to putting oil on the ongoing fire," the Congress minister was quoted as saying. He got support from other Congress ministers, who reportedly suggested that the State Cabinet must not take any decision in "haste" to avoid any other controversy, particularly when the Assembly elections in the state are round the corner.
It bears recalling that it was some 18 months ago that the NC leader from Kashmir and Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mir Saifullah had made an announcement regarding the appointment of Law Commission on the Floor of the Assembly, but he couldn't move forward because the Finance and Planning Departments had some reservations. It was only in the last week of May this year that the proposal was cleared, thus paving way for its submission to the State Cabinet. As said, the proposal was placed before the cabinet for consideration, but it was deferred following the Congress ministers' arguments against the spirit in which the whole proposal was drafted.
The draft proposal, which was prepared by the Law Department, reportedly said that the Law Commission of Jammu & Kashmir would have the "power to review those laws, which have been enacted by the State legislature and those central laws, which have been made applicable to Jammu & Kashmir in the light of Article 370, would not come under the jurisdiction, as the Law Commission of India was already in place".
The draft proposal had, among other things, also said that it would be the duty of the Law Commission to "review and repeal obsolete laws"; identify such laws as had become irrelevant so that these could be repealed; identify such laws which needed changes or amendments and to send proposals to that effect to the state government so that the identified laws were changed or amended; and so on. The draft proposal also reportedly said that it would be the duty of the Law Commission to recommend measures aimed at making the statute book up to date by doing away with obsolete laws and legislations which had "outlived their utility" or become irrelevant in modern times and so on and so forth.
All this only serves to demonstrate that the local Congress leadership has made up its mind not to allow the NC to take up controversial steps. This change on the part of the Congress augurs well for the state, notwithstanding the fact that its changed attitude is tactical. Tactical because the Congress is no different from the NC as far as its attitude towards the state and article 370 is concerned. |
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