| Mr Farooq Abdullah, Jammu & Ladakh need to be given priority, Kashmir has everything | | Biased is NC | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 29: NC president and former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah on Friday enacted a drama of sorts in the Lok Sabha in his desperate bid to gain the nation's sympathy for the region to which he belonged and from the community to which he belonged. He tried to create an impression that Kashmiris were the most oppressed people and Kashmir was the most backward and disempowered region in the country, which needed special attention and deserved special care. How else should one interpret his statement that "for the sake of India, Kashmir needs to be given priority"? Farooq Abdullah made this statement while participating on the statutory resolution for proclamation of President's Rule in J&K. He also opposed the dissolution of the J&K Assembly, tore into the PDP-BJP alliance and blamed the fax machine at the Raj Bhawan which, he claimed, was non-functional and which didn't enable the PDP, the NC and the Congress form a coalition government in the state on November 21. It is a different issue that not one Kashmiri MLA knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the assembly. It was BJP MLA, Gagan Bhagat, who went to the Supreme Court, which dismissed all his pleas. Bhagat is now a part of the NC.
Besides, Farooq Abdullah battled for a dialogue between India and Pakistan and urged the Government of India to adopt soft approach towards terrorists in Kashmir.
Farooq Abdullah would have done well had he told the Lok Sabha that it's the people of Jammu and Ladakh, who suffered huge socio-cultural and politico-economic losses during all these years of accession at the hands of over-powered, over-developed and highly appeased Kashmir region and the people it houses.
He should have told the Lower House that Kashmir had everything - political power; control over Home, Revenue, Law, General, Tourism, Agriculture, Education, Planning, Labour and Employment, to mention only a few departments.
He should have also told the Lok Sabha that it's the people of Kashmir who occupied almost 3.80 lakh out of 4.5 lakh jobs in the government and semi-government establishments; that it's the majority community in Kashmir, which has been enjoying minority rights and availing the schemes, including scholarship schemes, meant for the minority communities, including Hindu and Sikhs; that it's Kashmir that dominated the Civil Secretariat, the seat of power; that Kashmir retained 46 members in the 87-member assembly; that Kashmir returned three members to the Lok Sabha; that Kashmir's total land area was less than 11 per cent and the land area of Jammu and Ladakh over 88 per cent; that while the people of Jammu and Ladakh were conspicuous by their absence anywhere in Kashmir, those from Kashmir have a significant presence in all spheres and at all levels in Jammu and Ladakh; that it's Jammu, which housed no less 20 lakh Hindu-Sikh refugees, all victims of terrorism; that it's the people of Kashmir who were preferred while allotting major and even small projects; that it's the people of Jammu, who contributed annually over 75 per cent revenue to the state exchequer; that not one Kashmiri till date had died of hunger and cold; that not one Kashmiri was without a roof etc etc.
By withholding all these details, Farooq Abdullah only proved that he's biased, Kashmir-centric and one-community-centric and that his NC, like the PDP, the Congress, and even the BJP, had no place for Jammu and Ladakh in his scheme of things. |
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