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| Farooq did plain-speaking in the convention | | Thanking God for defeat | |
Rustam
JAMMU, May 31: NC president and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah, who tasted the first electoral defeat in his long political career in the just-held Lok Sabha elections, did some plain-speaking the other day in a convention of the NC youth activists at Nawai Subh office in Srinagar. He not only sought to know the causes responsible for the humiliating and massive defeat of his party and discussed the future strategy calculated to restore the political space it lost to the PDP so that it could remain somewhat relevant in the Valley, but also suggested a few steps which could help the NC restore the lost space. If one goes by what he said while addressing the convention and during his interaction with reporters within the premises of the party office, then it can be said that he could affect many changes in the party's structure and depend more on the old guard.
He, among other things, said: The party has to be "restructured". Young element in the party is alright, but the old guard could not be "sidelined" as it happened during the past five years when he was away in New Delhi to discharge his duties as a Union Minister. The "advice" of the old guard must be taken from time to time. Those whose performance in their respective constituencies was bad would not be given the mandate for the upcoming Assembly elections and those who worked sincerely for the party would be selected by him "after holding meetings in each and every constituency". The NC will "not retain" all the MLAs in the Assembly polls. The trust-deficit between the party and the people resulted in the collapse of the party. The gulf between the party and the people has to be bridged. We have also to think in terms of granting a "general amnesty" to (the militant and Pakistan-supported) "stone-pelters" and make maximum use of the remain four-five months to set the house in order and mobilize public opinion in favour of the party.
From his address and interaction with media persons it was clear that he was quite unhappy with those who managed the party affairs during his absence. Obviously, he hinted at his own son, who is the working president of the party and under whose leadership the party's support-base has consistently shrunk. He, it appears, also hinted at the members of the coterie of his son and Chief Minister, including the two provincial presidents and the likes of Tanvir Sadiq and Junaid Mattu. After all, Nasir Aslam Wani, Devendra Rana, Sadiq and Mattu, besides a few others, have been some of the close associates of Omar Abdullah. That he didn't name anyone of them is quite understandable. But his targets were clear.
It is interesting to note that Farooq Abdullah - apart from hinting at the causes responsible for the party's debacle and suggesting steps which he could take to save his sinking ship - thanked God for the party's ignominious defeat. "The NC leaders and workers should feel happy at the defeat of the parry candidates in the Parliamentary elections, as it has given us a wakeup call to the party. "We should be thankful to God that we lost the elections, otherwise the party would have been completely decimated," he said. What he said was self-explanatory. How sad? At the same time, the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley doesn't suggest that the NC has any chance of survival in the near future. Remember, the NC's vote-share in the Lok Sabha elections was just a paltry 9 per cent. It was not 11 per cent because this vote-share also included the Congress' votes. |
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