Neha
JAMMU, June 1: The defeated, humiliated and cornered Abdullahs, including NC president Farooq Abdullah, his son, working president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his brother Mustafa Kamal, on Saturday held a review meeting at the party headquarters in Jammu. The meeting was held to find what led to the debacle of the Congress in Jammu and the NC in Kashmir and chalk out a programme aimed at winning the upcoming assembly elections. The issue of pre-poll alliance with the Congress also came up for discussion.
Omar Abdullah admitted that he had no touch with the party workers and it was this disconnect with the party cadres that resulted in the defeat. He gave everyone in the meeting to understand that he has changed himself completely and he would expect his party leaders and ministers to follow in his footsteps. He tried to raise the moral of all those present saying the defeat should not demoralize them and that he has doubt that the party will bounce back. He also held the Congress equally responsible for the defeat of the coalition candidates. The responsibility is 50-50, he said. The demoralized and crest-fallen Farooq Abdullah also said almost the same thing and told the meeting that the defeat should taken to mean as a wake up call. The major refrain of both the Abdullahs was that the party would soon win back the trust of the people and again return to power, something unlikely to happen.
It needs to be underlined that it was only thrice that the NC got more than 46 per cent of the total votes polled. In 1977 and 1983, the NC got 46.2 per cent and 46.9 per cent of the total votes, respectively, in the assembly elections. In 1984, the NC got 46.2 per cent of the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections. In the assembly elections which were held in 1987, 1996, 2002 and 2008, the NC's vote share was 33 per cent, 34.8 per cent, 28.2 per cent and 23.1 per cent, respectively. In other words, the NC's vote share fell from 46.9 per cent in 1983 to 23.1 per cent in 2008, a massive loss of 23.8 per cent. In 1987 and 1996, the NC contested the assembly elections under the leadership of Farooq Abdullah and in 2002 and 2008, it contested the assembly elections under the leadership of Omar Abdullah. Omar Abdullah lost the election in 2002 to the PDP candidate.
The story of the NC's performance in terms of vote share was no different. In 1977, the NC got 33.9 per cent votes, in 1980, 36.9 per cent, in 1984, 46.2 per cent, in 1988, 36.4 per cent and in 1999, 28.9 per cent - all under the leadership of Farooq Abdullah. The NC contested the 2004, 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Omar Abdullah and got 27.8 per cent, 19 per cent and less than 10 per cent votes, respectively. In 2009 and 2014, the NC contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress. What does all this show? It shows that support-base of the NC has consistently dwindled. It also shows that the performance of Omar Abdullah has been highly dismal, which is a very poor reflection on Omar Abdullah. The Abdullahs say that the NC would bounce back. It's a tall claim. The fact of the matter is that the NC has fallen from grace and that only a miracle can help them revive their party. |
