| Jammu, Ladakh conspicuous by their absence | | Different platforms, one agenda | |
Rustam
JAMMU, June 4: On the face of it, the NC, the Congress, the CPI-M and formations like Jammu & Kashmir Awami Muttahida Mahaz (AMM) are different platforms. But ideologically they are one and their attitude towards New Delhi and Jammu and Ladakh is identical. There is no fundamental difference between them. For example, each one of these outfits, which are fundamentally Kashmir-centric and sectarian in their approach, opposes the Indian laws and the Indian institutions. In other words, they vouch for a system that restricts the jurisdiction of New Delhi to Jammu & Kashmir to just three subjects - defence, foreign affairs and communications. Besides, they want New Delhi to pump into Kashmir billions and billions of hard-earned India rupees at regular intervals so that the Kashmiri leadership and its communal constituency lead a life of luxury. Although they talk of the Instrument of Accession and want New Delhi to respect it, they do not miss any opportunity to talk for and on behalf of Pakistan and interfere in the defence-related issues.
Mercifully, the Congress, which still claims that it is an all-India party that believes in secular values, democracy and principle of justice an equity, sometimes crosses all the lines to identify itself with the Kashmiri leadership and establish that its ideology and approach towards the now almost hundred-per cent Muslim Kashmir is no different and that it would not fail Kashmir is it comes to it. One can refer to here a number of instances to prove it. But only a reference to a single recent instance would clear all the doubts and establish that the Congress, the NC, the CPI, the AMM and similar other political parties and formations constitute different political platforms, but work for the same goal. The case in point is the reactions these parties give in the wake of the May 27 suggestion that a debate on Article 370 has started. There is no need to refer to all the statements they made, and continue to make even today. Suffice to say that each one of them has pleaded for the restoration of Article 370 to its original position and demanded greater autonomy and each one has described this provision as a bridge between the state and New Delhi.
As for Jammu and Ladakh, these Kashmir-based and Valley-centric parties and formations like the AMM, a conglomerate of seven small groups, have no place whatever in their scheme of things. They want their primitive, regressive and intolerant ideology on the people of Jammu and Ladakh and crush their rights and aspirations. It was hoped that the defeat of the Congress and the NC would change their attitude towards Jammu and Ladakh and New Delhi in the light of the massive victory of the BJP in these two regions, but it has not happened. They continue to pursue the same old line completely overlooking its adverse impact in these two regions where the people voted overwhelmingly for the BJP and decimated the NC and the Congress.
This approach will not do. On the contrary, it would further anger the already rather angry people of Jammu and Ladakh. It is time the Kashmiri-centric parties and formations abandoned their sectarian approach and join the national mainstream. Not to do or to continue to cling to the same old line would be only hasten the process of the state's disintegration. One thing is absolutely clear: Jammu & Ladakh shall never ever endorse the Kashmiri line. |
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