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| NC seeking mandate against Indian Constitution | | J&K polls | | Rustam
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 8: The ruling National Conference (NC) has, it seems, not learned any lesson from past mistakes, as also from its humiliating defeat in Kashmir valley in the last Lok Sabha elections at the hands of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). How else should one interpret what the chairman of the NC's manifesto committee and sitting member of the Rajya Sabha, Mohammad Shafi Uri, party general secretary and Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government, Ali Mohammad Sagar, and NC additional general secretary Mustafa Kamaal have said about their election strategy and poll planks? They have said that the NC has resolved to make Article 370 and restoration of full internal autonomy as the main poll planks. The NC is committed to demanding restoration of autonomy for amicable settlement of the Kashmir issue and restoring of Article 370 to its original position, they have asserted. "It is not possible to avoid political (read sectarian) aspect of the Kashmir problem," they have said.
However, it was Mustafa Kamaal who explained away his party's stand in details. On Friday, he, among other things, said: "The NC would continue to struggle for the restoration of state's autonomy within the Union of India, as existed prior to 1953, when Jammu and Kashmir had its own Prime Minister. The autonomy (resolution) was unanimously passed by the legislature and we stand by that. It is not only NC's commitment but it is the people's commitment that they gave through their representatives in the two-third majority. Therefore, it cannot be confined to the party only. It is the demand of the people of the state".
It is manifestly clear from their statements that the NC has decided to see the people's mandate against the Indian Constitution. It has made it clear that it wants wholesale withdrawal of the central laws and institutions from the State which were extended after August 9, 1953 and favours limited accession with India; it stands for withdrawal of the Army and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) under which the Armed forces involved in anti-insurgency operations enjoy legal immunity; and it considers J&K an unsettled issue as also a "bridge" between India and Pakistan.
Who wants autonomy in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh State? The people of Jammu province hate this divisive and communal demand; they want complete integration into India. The people of Ladakh hate it and they also want to integrate themselves fully with India. Only in May 2014 that people of both these regions rejected outright these concepts by defeating its ally, the Congress, and reposing full faith in the BJP, the bitter critic of the autonomy and Article 370. The people of Jammu and Ladakh are again all set to reject not only the NC but also the Congress, which has all through given its overt and covert support to the NC and created problems for the nation in the state.
And in Kashmir, the people rejected the NC with contempt and voted for the PDP, which contested the election on the issues of governance and development. The PDP didn't rake up any emotive issue during the Lok Sabha campaign. It focused only on the NC-Congress' misrule, corruption, scamps, unemployment and so on and won all the three seats with a huge margin and defeated even Farooq Abdullah.
The assertion of Mustafa Kamaal that autonomy is not only the demand of the NC but also of the entire population of J&K is absolutely wrong. A party which got less than 10 per cent votes in the just-held Lok Sabha election should not make such tall claims. Instead, it should recognize the political realities in the state and focus on issues of governance and development. It may win half a dozen seats if it goes to the polls with a positive political and people's centric agenda. For, for the people of the state autonomy is no attractive slogan. |
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