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| New administrative units: Litmus test for Congress | | | Neha
Jammu, Jan 25: The people of Jammu province had been repeatedly bemoaning that the National Conference (NC) and similar other Valley-based and Kashmir-centric communal organizations had all along treated them shabbily and rendered them ineffective for all practical purposes. When viewed this charge in the light of the available official data their charge appears to be well-founded. Official records do show that the people of Jammu province, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims included, have little or no space in the NC's political, administrative and economic scheme of things and that their only duty is to pay taxes and suffer neglect and humiliations.
The latest instance of the anti-Jammu province attitude is the insistence of NC working president and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the creation of more new administrative units in Kashmir and deprive the people of Jammu province of their legitimate right to have adequate number administrative units considering the size of the province, nature of its terrain and inaccessibility of bulk of the area. The NC has turned so anti-Jammu province that the Chief Minister has reportedly threatened that if the Cabinet-Sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tara Chand failed to submit his report latest by January 31, his Government of which the Congress is the most crucial constituent would adopt the recommendations of the Mushtaq Ganai panel. "Either the Mushtaq Ganai report will have to be adopted (by January 31) or the Government will go," he reportedly said on Friday, and added that "till then, there would be no Cabinet meeting". He also reportedly left the Secretariat "in a huff".
Omar Abdullah also made his intentions clear on Twitter, where he wrote that he was "determined to complete this important demand no matter what". He adopted an irrational anti-Jammu province line and reportedly told his party Ministers and leaders that "he would not budge from his stand at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for today (Jan 24)", notwithstanding the reported stand of the CSC members belonging to the Congress that the Mushtaq Ganai report, which has recommended new subdivisions, tehsils, naibats, community development (CD) blocks and patwar halqas for the state, is "discriminatory" towards the Jammu region.
How could he do that, as his is not a one-party Government? His is not a one-party Government; his is a coalition Government and it cannot take decisions unilaterally. Now that the Chief Minister has adopted a stand that is irrational by any standard, it is time for the Congress to take a definite stand on the whole issue and establish by words and deeds that it believed in the principle of justice and equity and that it would endorse the Chief Minister's anti-Jammu province stand. The Congress needs to assert as it has everything to win and nothing to lose by adopting a rational stand on the whole issue. There is no doubt that Jammu province deserves more districts, subdivisions, tehsils, naibats, community development (CD) blocks and patwar halqas. The Congress has to defeat the NC's move that is based on the calculation that if it gets new administrative units for Kashmir, it will benefit the party during the upcoming elections. Besides, it is the fundamental duty of the Jammu province-based NC leaders to put their foot down and fight for the genuine cause of the neglected people of this province. |
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