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| Needles of clock can't be turned back: Congress | | Sagheer Report | | Rustam
Jammu, Dec 27: The 8-member Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC), which is headed by senior National Conference (NC) leader and Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, has demanded one more extension, as the CSC needs some more time to evolve a broader consensus on what Rather termed as "contentious issues". "We are sure about another extension as we haven't discussed the issues like autonomy and 1975 Accord. In fact, we haven't reached that stage as yet," Rather was quoted as saying. "We have discussed some issues threadbare and evolved consensus," he also said.
It bears recalling that the Jammu & Kashmir Government had appointed the CSC in January 2010 to examine the recommendations as contained in the Justice (Retd) Sagheer Ahmad report on Jammu & Kashmir and suggest which of them needed to be accepted and given an effect to. (Justice Sagheer Ahmad headed the Prime Minister-appointed Working Group on Centre-State Relations). The CSC consists of four NC Ministers and an equal number of Congress Ministers and it met as many as six times between January 2010 and March 2012, but failed to reach an agreement. It met on January 28, 2010; June 1, 2011; August 8, 2011; December 27, 2011; and February 17 and March 29, 2012. Rather on Wednesday contradicted the report that the CSC had submitted to the Cabinet an interim report, notwithstanding the fact that one Congress member of the CSC stuck to the stand that the CSC did submit interim report on June 15 this year, Rather virtually suggested that the committee will be able to reach an agreement in the next meeting as and when held.
It was clear from what Rather said that the Congress members of the CSC didn't endorse the NC stand on autonomy and that they were not prepared to look beyond the 1975 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord on Centre-State relations, which was implemented in letter and spirit during the time of Sheikh Abdullah, who himself became Chief Minister under the same Accord, described by many Kashmiri leaders as an Accord concluded by Sheikh with New Delhi to recapture political power compromising his ideology. It also became clear that the NC members were not prepared to accept anything less than autonomy. They hold the view that Justice Sagheer panel did suggest restoration of autonomy. On the contrary, the Congress members claim that the Working Group on Centre-State Relations nowhere in its report said anything about autonomy. They are right. The NC members want the Congress members to endorse their stand on autonomy and the Congress members want the NC members to make the 1975 Accord "basis of discussion and debate". "The party has made it clear to all members of CSC that 1975 Accord has to be a base for any debate or discussion," a senior Congress Minister has been quoted as saying. Yet another Congress Minister has, according to a report, made it loud and clear that the Congress considered Jammu & Kashmir an "integral part of India" and that it will not allow anyone to "turn the clock back". He, at the same time, according to the same report, acknowledged that that "it is true that a consensus has been evolved on certain things like Article 370, upholding the integrity of all three regions of the State as a single entity, socio-economic development and devolution of powers".
It was not for the first time that the Congress Ministers took the stand they took in the CSC meetings. One of the Congress members of the Working Group on Centre-State Relations had taken the same line. He was none other than the then Speaker of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Tara Chand, presently Deputy Chief Minister in the NC-Congress coalition Government. Those who believe in equality between all the States of the Union may or may not appreciate the Congress' stand on the 1975 Accord, but one needs to appreciate the stand of the Congress members of the CSC on autonomy. Their assertion that the State is an integral part of India and that they will not allow anyone to turn needles of clock back does suggest that they are aware of the fact that the nation is vehemently opposed to the idea of Jammu & Kashmir getting more autonomy.
However, to say all this is not to suggest that all the Congress leaders in the State hold the view the Congress members, including the one who represents Uri constituency in the Assembly, hold. There are some Congress leaders in Kashmir who would not mind sharing the views of the NC on autonomy, but their problem is that the Congress leaders and Ministers from Jammu and Ladakh are in majority and they for their own political survival cannot support the autonomy demand. All in all, it can be said that the NC will not succeed in implementing its divisive and communal agenda. For, things in the State have changed substantially during the past 10 years or so. |
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