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| Is any political figure ready to act as an agent of change in J&K? | | | ET Report
Jammu, Jan 25: If people in Jammu and Kashmir want a change in governance they may not be able to experience it because there is none who can act as agents of change. The reason being that even after a major alteration in the political arrangement for forming a Government people have to bank on three musketeers, the Congress, PDP and the NC.
Prior to the birth of the PDP it used to be either a Congress rule or a Government run by the National Conference or a Congress-NC coalition rule. After the birth of the PDP two major changes have taken place. It can invariably be a coalition Government because each Assembly poll is likely to throw up a hung House. It has to be either the PDP-Congress coalition Government or a Congress-NC rule. There could have been another option of having in the state a PDP-NC coalition Government. But the possibilities for such a combination is as bleak as one can say about the Congress-BJP coalition rule in the centre.
Hence people in Jammu and Kashmir have to remain content with either the PDP-Congress rule or with the Congress-NC coalition Government. This way these two combinations alone can be agents for change or for stagnation.
One may say that in the centre too the choice is limited to either the Government run by the Congress and its allies or by the BJP and its allies. But there is one difference. Allies on both sides have changed and keep on changing depending on the political and security situation in the Country.
At the national level the pre-poll debate rests on the charisma of Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. Those among the people who are for change prefer Modi to Rahul Gandhi. But after the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party, led by Kejriwal, sprang a surprise in the recent Assembly election in Delhi Arvind is being viewed as a strong agent of change.
As far as Jammu and Kashmir state is concerned it is only in case of the PDP where the Muftis are treated as agents of change. In case of the National Conference it is a tie between Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. As far as the state unit of the Congress is concerned it continues to be a leaderless entity depending on props from the Congress high command's choice. It is for the party high command to decide whether the dice is to be cast in favour of Saif-ud-Din Soz, Ghulam Nabi Azad or Taj Mohi-ud-Din for acting as agents of change.
But the change is to remain limited to these three organizations. Not beyond that. It is so because other parties are either Valley based or Jammu based. Take the example of the BJP. Though it has a plan to contest the Assembly election in the Valley too it is essential Jammu centric. The case is similar to the Panthers Party, which too is Jammu centric.
If Peoples' Conference led by Sajjad Lone, wins a sizeable number of seats from the Kashmir valley and the Panthers Party led by the redoubtable Harsh Dev Singh bags more than 15 seats in the Jammu region the two could explore the possibility of forming the Government in Jammu and Kashmir. Once they do it, Lone and Harsh will be treated as agents of change. However, possibilities for such a development are quite bleak.
It is in the context of this situation that majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir wish for a PDP-Congress coalition rule which they believe could fulfill their aspirations for a change. And there are some states in India, including Himachal and Rajasthan where people have invariably voted for a change. If it is Congress rule for five years next time people will vote for the BJP.
The problem in Jammu and Kashmir is that voters have to make a choice among the candidates fielded by the PDP, Congress and the NC. This way it is not upto the voters to vote for a particular party to form the Government. It is for those who run the show to decide whether the state will have a Congress-PDP rule or a Congress-NC Government. Beyond this there is darkness. |
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