news details |
|
|
| NC seeks to win Assembly elections on AFSPA plank | | Farooq jumps on to Omar's bandwagon | | Neha
JAMMU, Aug 1: The defeated and desperate NC, which has lost its sheen and appeal over the period, has, it seems, resolved to contest the coming Assembly elections on the planks of autonomy and AFSPA revocation. It has perhaps come to believe that if it is to meet the challenge being posed by the victorious PDP and win a few seats in the Valley, it has to rake up divisive and controversial issues. It is not fighting for the retention of the Chief Minister's chair; it is fighting for its very survival. It knows that it will be extremely difficult to restore the entire political space it lost to the PDP in 2002, 2008 and 2014 and, hence, its desperate attempt to take up controversial and emotive issues hoping such a move may motivate some Kashmiri people to come to its side in the Assembly elections.
It is not for nothing that NC working president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been from time to time accusing New Delhi of not conceding his demand seeking revocation of the AFSPA. He has been trying his level best to convince the Kashmiri people that he has been doing all that he could to get Kashmir out of the ambit of the AFSPA, but it is anti-Kashmir elements in the establishment in Delhi who have been applying the brake with full force and scuttling his moves. It is also not for nothing that he is appealing to the people of Kashmir to vote for the NC, saying a vote for it would mean greater autonomy for the Valley. It is difficult to say if his strategy would click - difficult because he and his outfit have to reckon with the PDP all across the Valley. Also difficult because the PDP has sophisticated and shrewd leadership and the NC doesn't have a single face left who could motivate and inspire the people of Kashmir. Leave aside the people of Jammu and Ladakh who, barring a few, have contempt for the NC and its leadership and ideology. The NC is fully aware of this fact and that's the reason it did not contest the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Ladakh in 2009 and 2014.
It is not only Omar Abdullah who has planned to seek the Kashmiris' mandate on the twin issues of autonomy and AFSPA. His father and party president Farooq Abdullah, who was rejected outrightly by the Kashmiri electorate in the just-held Lok Sabha election, has also jumped on to the Omar Abdullah's bandwagon and stated that the NC is committed to revoking the AFSPA. "The NC has both history and the truth on its side and no amount of propaganda and distortion could negate the struggle and sacrifices of the party and its founding leader Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for the state and the dignity of its people…The party's and the State Government's 'forthright stand' on revocation of AFSPA" is unambiguous and "the party is steadfast in its commitment to see the repeal of the Act," the party on his behalf said in a statement on Thursday. "The ruling party president also prayed for the 'suffering' people of Gaza and said continued and unabated aggression of Israel in Palestine was only possible because of the sense of impunity that Israel has due to the silence of the international community…Muslim countries (should) unite in their opposition to Israel's terror and aggression", the party's statement also said. In other words, Farooq Abdullah sought to win over the people of Kashmir by supporting the demand for AFSPA revocation and condemning Israel. Infact, he spoke the language of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others of his ilk.
All this should suggest that the NC will focus more on the divisive and emotive issues than on issues of governance, development and causes of inter-regional tensions or national unity. This is not the way to win election. By thinking in terms of doing what Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah have been doing, the NC is only adding to its difficulties. It should remember that it had contested the 2002 and 2008 Assembly elections on the plank of autonomy, but failed to obtain even a simple majority in the Assembly. Both in 2002 and 2008, it won 28 seats each. Its tally in 1996 was a whopping 57 in the 87-member House. If the NC wishes to win respectable number of seats, it has no other alternative but to contest the coming elections on democratic and economic issues. But it will not do that considering the fact that its leadership has lost its way and is mortally afraid of the growing popularity of the PDP in the Valley. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
