Rustam
JAMMU, June 13: The ruling National Conference is in complete disarray. Its top-ranking leaders are taking on each other publicly.
Even NC working president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is surrounded by a "coterie of manipulators and self-seekers", is under attack. The state of affairs in the party could be determined from what senior leaders of the party are saying about the Chief Minister and those few who ran, and continue to run, the Kashmir's premier political organization. So much so, a senior leader of the party, who is also considered ideologue of the party, has virtually written political obituary of the NC. He may be thrown out of the party. To start with, he and others of his ilk, who are angry with the party's top-ranking leaders, including Omar Andullah and Abdul Rahim Rather, have been told by newly-appointed NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar to keep their mouth shut and bring their grievances, if any, to the notice of the party leadership, instead of airing views in public.
The case in point is what former Lok Sabha MP Mehboob Beg said on Wednesday a Anantnag about the political future of the NC. He said the people of Kashmir will replicate May 16 in the coming assembly elections in the state and that the NC would lose, and lose very badly, in the election in case remedial measures were not taken on time. He suggested surgery or total revamp without saying so or in his own style. In fact, he warned the party leadership that the people's verdict in the Lok Sabha election will be repeated in assembly elections as the party failed to learn lessons from last month's defeat. In his speech at a party rally at Sarnal, Anantnag, held to commemorate the death anniversary of his father and one of the founders of the NC, Mirza Afzal Beg, Beg said: "16th May will be repeated. Don't mislead Omar Sahib. Nothing has changed. Don't tell him that all is right, nothing is right. We have been defeated on 39 seats out 44 in Kashmir valley. The NC has been wiped out in Kashmir valley as people in general and youth in particular are angry with the party. Last time we won Anantnag, Srinagar, Baramulla and even Jammu and Ladakh. Now the NC has been wiped out, completely wiped out, from Pahalgam to Uri. We may not open our eyes, close them and hide our heads in the sand like ostrich, will it change the reality. If we will not tell reality to Omar Sahib, will it change reality? If the things are not brought under control, history will repeat itself. The result which you saw on 16th (May) will be repeated in October and November, you should remember it". It was clear from what he said that he has no love lost for those in the party who bungled and ensured defeat of the party. Ali Mohammad Sagar on Thursday advised the likes of Beg not to air views in public and, instead, discuss the issues with the party leadership. But gone are the days when the Abdullahs reigned supreme in the party. The election result has weakened the grip of the Abdullahs over the party and things would worsen in the days to come. They have lost their moral authority. The old guards are extremely unhappy. The youth in the NC is feeling completely betrayed and badly let down. There is disconnect between the party and the people and it is palpable and profound. The Abdullahs are not only being challenged by persons within the party, but also by many in the Congress. The PDP, which won the election hands down, is attacking the Abdullahs on a daily basis and has been quite successful in exposing what it calls the Abdullahs' misdeeds, politics of opportunism and anti-people and anti-democratic policies. The reality is that the NC, like the Congress, has become an object of contempt and ridicule and it is difficult to say if the Abdullahs would be able to counter the determined opposition and silent the detractors within the party. |
