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| Praise of Mufti Sayeed in Governor's address is in contrast to Gen. Sinha's personal assessment of Mufti | | | Early Times Special Correspondent
Jammu | Jan 8
Performing the annual ritual of reading his address at the joint session of both the Houses of legislature, on the first day of the budget session, on Monday January 7, the State Governor General (Rtd) S K Sinha was at pains to equate the former Chief Minister of the coalition government, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the present Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, giving equal credit to both for the achievements registered and progress made by the state during six years of coalition rule in the state.
The politicians are known for changing their tone and tenor about the events and making evaluation of the individuals in keeping with their changing relations with them. Yesterday's foes become friends today and today's friends become foes tomorrow. Even the good work done by the political foes, rather than being appreciated, is criticized in the harshest language, while whom and whose policies and programmes they criticized yesterday, are applauded, when they become partners in the government or join hands with each other. But the constitutional head of the state, who is supposed to be above political considerations and not to have his personal liking and disliking and whose evaluation of persons and their actions should be impartial, independent and guided by the interest of the state, without an element of either personal bias or based on changing political equations, is hardly supposed to be changing his opinion about a person with the change of weather or political equations.
During the period the two major coalition partners, the Congress and PDP were at logger heads till recently, the State Governor S K Sinha was sharply criticizing the PDP's planks of self-rule and demilitarization, describing the same not in the interest of the state and the country as well as no feasible at all under the given conditions. He was ridiculing those who raised such impractical demands, creating confusion in the minds of the people as well as betraying their narrow selfish motive in the exercise. Not only this S K Sinha was highly critical of the person of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as well as and in his evaluation Mufti Sayeed's role has been negative and self centered. During the tenure Mufti Sayeed was the Chief Minister, the relations between the Governor and the Chief Minister were far from being cordial. The State Governor, who is ex-officio Chairman of Shri Amarnath Yatra Board was in direct confrontation with the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the wake of the latter placing obstructions in the way of extending the period of Amarnath Yatra in the years 2003 and 2004. The two were on head long collusion with each other and even their personal relations had an element of bitterness. The Chairman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board openly charged the Chief Minister of obstructionist tactics in the smooth conduct of the yatra and prolonging the same for two months.
Again, the PDP had taken strong exception to the Governor publicly criticizing the demand for demilitarization and self-rule and describing the same not in the interest of the state and the nation. So much so that the PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti had even threatened that her party would demand for recall of the Governor, charging him of having bias against her party and his role as a constitutional head of the state not being impartial and above prejudices.
The bitterness of relations between the two had reached such a passé that after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was replaced as Chief Minister of the state by Ghulam Nabi Azad, after all attempts and moves by the PDP and friends of Mufti in New Delhi to allow him to continue as the Chief Minister of the state had failed, the Governor S K Sinha had taken the development as his personal victory and vindication of his assessment about Mufti and his negative role. General Sinha is reported to have told a leader of the trade organization which was in the vane guard of the movement for extending the period of Amarnath yatra to two months, that the Mufti, who was opposed to the holy yatra, has been punished by God, for his act of placing obstructions in the conduct of yatra, which is a godly affair.
Under this background the appreciation of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's role as Chief Minister of the state for three years between November 2002 to ending October 2005, looks little ironical and an act of hypocracy. Then the Governor has hardly any say or any personal involvement in the address he presents in the joint session of legislature, which is drafted and approved by the government and the Governor had to read it as a statement of policy of his government. |
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