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| Beig again bats for PDP-BJP Government | | Inter-regional animosity | | Rustam
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 25: Member of Lok Sabha, PDP's ideologue and perhaps also the author of the PDP's self-rule document and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzzaffar Hussain Beig is perhaps one Kashmiri leader who appreciates the fact that the relations between the people of Jammu province and Kashmir regions are far from normal and that the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state alone could harmonize inter-regional relations. Beig perhaps is also the only Kashmiri leader who has been consistent on his stand on the government formation.
Right from December 23, when the elections threw up a hung assembly, Beig has been batting for coalition between the PDP and the BJP, saying that while the PDP got the mandate to represent the Kashmiri aspirations, the BJP got the mandate to represent the Jammu aspirations and that it would hurt the interests of the people of the state if the PDP and the BJP failed to form the government in the state. "We do not have any Hindu representation from Jammu, neither does Congress have. BJP has representation in Jammu which is more arranged in real. Mainstream Jammu sentiment is with BJP," he has been saying in unequivocal terms.
The views of Beig cannot be ignored. It is a fact that the relations between the two regions are not normal; the relations are bitter. The grievance of the people of Jammu province all along has been that they have never got their due share in the state's polity and economy and that it is Kashmir that has been reigning supreme in the state ever since its accession with India 67 years ago. The complaint of the people of Jammu province is as genuine as it deserves appreciation at the earliest. It's not that Jammu was never represented in the Assembly, in the Council of Ministers or in the Cabinet. It was represented in the Assembly, in the Council of Ministers or in the Cabinet, but those who were duty-bound to represent the aspirations of their constituencies failed them, as they danced to the tunes of their Kashmiri masters to further their own selfish ends. The fact of the matter is that the elected representatives of the people of Jammu province and those put on the Legislative Council ditched them again, again and yet again; they behaved as if they represented Kashmir and Kashmiri sentiment.
Ironically, even after its massive defeat in the November-December Assembly elections, the Congress, which dominated the Jammu's political scene for decades, advocated the need of a grand alliance between the PDP, the NC and the Congress, saying such an alliance was a must to not only keep the BJP out of power but also to "respect the Kashmiri sentiment". Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and outgoing Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, repeatedly outraged the sensitivities of the people of Jammu province by putting forth such anti-Jammu suggestions. It was manifestly clear from his nasty and ill-designed interventions that he was out-and-out for Kashmir, notwithstanding the fact that the Congress enjoyed the state power for decades with the support of the people of Jammu province.
But PDP leader Beig is, it appears, made of a different stuff, notwithstanding the fact that he stands for Article 370 ignoring the fact that this provision is anti-people and anti-democratic and runs counter to the just aspirations of the people. It is Beig who recognizes the realities in the state and vouches for a government that, he thinks, can end the existing inter-regional animosities and brings the two estranged regions closer to each other.
Will the Jammu-based Congress and NC leaders imitate the courageous Beig, give up their Valley-centric approach and recognize Jammu as a major political force in the state? They should failing which their parties would suffer more humiliating defeats.
Meanwhile, reports have started emanating from Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu that the PDP and the BJP leadership is busy in formulating a workable and acceptable common minimum programme. It would not be surprising if the PDP and the BJP form the next government anytime afterJanuary 28, the last date for filing nomination papers for the four Rajya Sabha seats. |
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