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| Pre or post-poll alliance on Congress's conditions | | Golden era in J&K | | Rustam
JAMMU, Feb 26: Member of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and former Cabinet Minister Abdul Gani Vakil on Tuesday had termed former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's regime as golden era in Jammu and Kashmir and claimed that it was his vision that helped the Congress achieve popularity in all the three regions of the State. He made these assertions while addressing a public gatherings in his constituency Rafiabad (Kashmir) and suggested that "if there is a compulsion or situation demands forging of pre or post poll alliance, it will be exclusively on the terms and conditions of the Congress as was in the year 2002 and the party will never accept dictation from any alliance partner in respect of the Chief Minister's post because Congress has already suffered a lot during the last five years". At the same time, he said that alliance or no alliance with any part/parties is the sole prerogative of AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Besides, he admitted that "grass root workers" of the Congress "are neither entertained nor respected" by the people at the helm of affairs and "are being treated as B-team members, which has demoralized the rank and file of the party".
There was much in what Vakil said which was correct. One would not endorse his view that any pre or post-poll alliance with any political party would be on the terms and conditions of the Congress. For, the NC has already dictated terms and the top leadership of the Congress party has honoured the NC's diktat. The case in point is the unilateral declaration by the NC that it would contest all the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir valley. Similarly, no one would appreciate his view that the Congress emerged strong because of Azad. For, while in 2002, when Azad was not the CM, the Congress won more seats in Jammu (15), in 2008, it could win only 13 seats and failed to improve its tally in Kashmir. Azad served as CM between Nov 2, 2005 and July 7, 2008. Likewise, no one would agree with Vakil's view that the vision of Azad helped the party. The fact is that certain developments took place during his regime which not only led to the collapse of his Government on July 7, 2008, but also brought bad name to the party across the nation. His handling of the Amarnath land issue, the defeat of all the nation-centric and nation-building private member's bills, including on national flag, defeat of private member's bills on refugees from West Pakistan, and adoption of divisive private member's bills, including on state flag and Shari laws, defeat of private member's bill on districts and so on all brought bad name to the Congress party and forced the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region conclude that the Azad's regime was the worst. Besides, Azad harmed the people of Jammu province by rejecting the Wazir Commission report on districts and implementing his own irrational scheme. He created four districts in Jammu and four in Kashmir ignoring the fact that the Wazir commission report had recommended three new districts for Jammu and one for Kashmir.
However, all patriotic Indians would always remember Azad for his stand on the Armed forces, Armed Forces Special Powers Act and human rights. He defended the Army to hilt. He defended AFSPA to the extent required. And he showed the so-called champions of human rights their rightful place. His speeches on the Army, the AFSPA and the alleged human rights violations were superb by any yardstick and no Kashmiri leader worth his name would ever dare to say what Azad said repeatedly on these issues on the floor of the Assembly. Hence, the period of Azad could be termed as a golden period in the state as far as the stand of his Government on the Army, the AFSPA and human rights situation was concerned. |
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