| Abdullahs, Mufti want to undo LB Shastri's good work in J&K | | Demand for Sadar-e-Riyast, Wazir-e-Azam | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 13: The president and vice-president of NC, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, and the president of the PDP, Mehbooba Mufti (all former Chief Ministers), have unleashed a no-holds-barred campaign in the Valley to woo the voters and capture the Lok Sabha seats. They have turned so radical that they are demanding a regime, which existed in the state before 1966. They in general and Omar Abdullah in particular are telling the Kashmiri voters that a vote for them will be a vote for the revival of the offices of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam.
In other words, they are telling their respective constituencies that they, if voted to power, will abolish the offices of Governor and Chief Minister and undo the good work done by late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shstri.
It was during the Lal Bahadur Shastri's regime that the offices of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam were abolished and the offices of Governor and Chief Minister introduced to bring Jammu & Kashmir at par with other states of the Union. It happened on April 10, 1965. The Jammu & Kashmir Government adopted the changes vide "The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir (Sixth Amendment) Act, 1965".
It was not just that the Jammu & Kashmir Government scrapped the offices of the Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam in 1965. It was also in 1965 that the 18-year-old rule of the NC came to an end in the state. Between 1947 and 1965, it was the NC which ruled or misruled the state. In 1965, the NC merged with the Congress and GM Sadiq became the first-ever Congress Chief Minister in Jammu & Kashmir. It also happened during the Shastri time.
Besides, it was also during the Shastri's very short tenure that Jammu & Kashmir was brought under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, Election Commission of India and Comptroller and Auditor-General.
The stand of the Kashmiri leaders on the good work done by Lal Bahadur Shastri is communally and politically-motivated. And no government worth its name at the Centre will ever allow the revival of the offices of Sadar-e-Riyasat and Wazir-e-Azam. IN fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made this demand an election plank to corner the Congress, saying that the Congress is flirting with separatist NC and the PDP, who are demanding the abolition of the offices of Governor and Chief Minister. |
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