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| Desperate for good show, Cong admits its failure to implement manifesto | | Kathua convention | |
Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 11: AICC general secretary and in-charge J&K Ambika Soni on Saturday had admitted that the Congress did not fully implemented its election manifesto, but asserted that the party would emerge strong in all the three regions in the upcoming assembly elections. She said so at a day-long convention of party delegates from Kathua and Basohli.
The convention was addressed by two other senior leaders as well and they included JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din soz and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Interestingly, Soz, who held the NC's misgovernance, mal-administration and misdeeds responsible for the Congress debacle in the LokSabha, had to eat a humble pie, as most of the party workers held the Congress ministers responsible for the party's poor show in the Lok Sabha election. Many party workers had also attacked the Congress ministers in the convention of the party workers held at Jammu on July 20 and urged the party leadership to learn from the past mistakes and work out an election strategy accordingly.
No one would appreciate Ambika Soni's view that the party could fully implement the party's election manifesto. The reason is that the Congress didn't fulfill any of the important promises it made to the people of Jammu province, its core constituency for all practical purposes, and only acted as B-team of the NC, which is essentially Kashmir-centric. The people of Jammu province have repeatedly accused the Congress of betraying their trust to keep its Kashmiri masters in a good humour and said it was Congress more than the NC that caused more harm to Jammu. Their charge appears to be well-founded.
On the eve of 2002 Assembly elections, the Congress, which shared power with a Kashmir-based party between November 2002 and June 2008, had held out many promises, but threw its manifesto into the dustbin after coming to power. Some of the broken promises included (1) establishment of regional development boards in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to remove regional imbalances; (2) extension of full powers to the Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, that was "deprived of its legitimate powers" by the NC Government; (3) establishment of airport at Kargil to connect it with Jammu, Srinagar and Delhi; (4) extension of ST status to the Pahari-speaking people; (5) consideration of the "long standing demands" of all the ST communities; (6) proportional representation to Scheduled Castes in the ministry and in the Legislative Council; (7) establishment of a "clean, transparent and responsive" administration at all levels; (8); appointment of experts to look into the causes responsible for the creation of inter-regional tensions and suggest corrective measures; (9) empowerment of Backward Classes, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and people living below poverty line; (10) implementation of 73rd amendment of the Indian Constitution to empower the elected panchayats; and (11) constitution of a Minority Commission to look after the minority communities. The Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which was made public by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on October 27, 2002 during the press conference, made several commitments. These, inter-alia, included (1) adequate financial assistance for the relief and rehabilitation of the migrants from various disturbed areas of Jammu and Ladakh as well; (2) construction of permanent shelters in all the vulnerable areas close to the Line of Control to prevent loss of life and allotment of alternative land to such families in safe zones; (3) compensation to those people from border areas of J&K who suffered losses of crop and cattle due to security operations near the LoC and international border; (4) grant of full powers to the Autonomous Hill Council for Leh; (5) constitution of a Delimitation Commission to redraw the Assembly constituencies to meet the demands of the people; (6) employment and welfare of youth; and (7) appointment of a Minority Commission. The PDP-Congress coalition government did nothing whatever to honour any of these solemn commitments. The government left the people, especially those from Jammu and Ladakh and minority communities high and dry.
In 2008 as well, the Congress held out several commitments on the eve of and during the election campaign. Its manifesto for J&K, among other commitments, committed itself to (1) restructuring the Constitution of J&K into federal set-up by setting up separate regional councils for J&K; (2) opening of Damchok-KailashMansarovar route to promote religious tourism and trade; (3) introducing a bill in the new Legislative Assembly seeking to constitute Delimitation Commission for delimiting the Assembly constituencies as required by law; (4) adopting a comprehensive employment package for unemployed educated youth and granting stipend to the unemployed educated youth; (5) meeting all the pending demands of refugees of 1947, 1965and 1971; (6) resolving the problem of the West Pakistan refugees (mostly Dalits) of 1947; (7) addressing grievances of different groups of minorities in all the three regions of the State by establishing a Minorities Commission; (8) retrieving the lakes like Mansar and Surinsar in Jammu; (9) evolving a mechanism and position to monitor reservation policy in government jobs provided for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and (10) granting St status to Pahari-speaking people. It is hardly necessary to point out that the Congress didn't fulfill any of these solemn commitments. AmbikaSoni and others in the party need to do some homework before making statements on sensitive issues. |
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