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| In politics promise breakers are not shoe makers | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | May 25
As the dates for the Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir draw near every politician and each political party have started remembering people.The plight of people in the state has started pinching their otherwise thick skin.The tone of
political leaders,engaged in pre-poll campaign,seems to have mellowed down.They approach people as if they are seeking blessings from their deities in a
shrine.And they do not want to lose time.They make sharp and crisp promises.They promise moon to people who come to listen to them because during the polling
only the voters can shape their future.
It is election year in the state.New parties have started taking birth.New combinations are in the making.New issues are being raised.Listen to Ghulam Hassan Mir,who was one among a handful founder members of the PDP,and who floated his Jammu Kashmir
Democratic Party (JKDP) after he was expelled by the Muftis.Once you listen to him you will believe that he is a symbol of sincerity,political vision and wisdom.His mission is to fight against family rule in the PDP and the National Conference.For full five
years he had not felt suffocated by the family rule in the PDP.Of late he is uncomfortable when he realized that the PDP could not become an alternative to the National Conference.He seems to have been bothered by two issues.One,growing unemployment.Secondly,continued dependence of the state on the doles of the centre.
The soft-spoken Hassan Mir has already given shape to his ideas on dealing with these two issues.Saying that avenues for the educated youth in Government departments are limited and hence he plans to open other channels which could help the unemployed to
secure gainful employment.He has not explained his agenda on this issue.On the second issue he plans to exploit the internal resources within the state which could give a push to the state's economy thereby spare it from "approaching the centre with a begging
bowl."How sweet of him ? And before he could turn his dream into a reality he met the Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh,in Delhi and sought central assistance
in making optimum use of the internal resources,including exploitation of mineral and forest wealth and for utilisation of river water on power generattion.
Take the case of the National Conference.It holds the Congress led coalition Government responsible for all the economic and political ills in the state.As if
these ills and evils accumulated during the last five and a half years and during the 27-year long rule of the National Conference,its leaders think,it was all smooth on the political and economic firmament.Its patron,Dr Farooq Abdullah,has come to realise that all the non-NC parties had exploited people.He has not stopped here.He has blamed the ruling coalition for neglecting people in the rural areas and for exploiting people belonging to the Gujjar and Bakerwal ethnic groups.He seems to be ready to convince people that during his regime or that of his father Gujjars had been given their due and there were no backward areas in the state.He may be right when he says that the slogan of Khushal Kashmir,raised by Ghulam Nabi zad,was hollow.
Whatever Dr Abdullah says has irritated a senior
PDP leader,Muzaffar Hussain Baig.As the Deputy Chief Minister he has said that successive Governments in the past have simply exploited people on one pretext
or the other.Against this the ruling coalition has been able to usher in an era of development activitiesHe claims that the coalition Government has provided better cover to people not only in the urban areas but in the farflung belts security cover in the
sectors of health,education,agriculture and industry..Chief Minister,Ghulam Nabi Azad,who moves around has been heard chanting the mantra of development.He continues to cliam credit for having brought about revolutionary changes in health and
education sectors.Who is right ?The PDP-Congress leadership or the National Conference patron.Voters can be the best judge.
As far as other political parties,including the BJP,the BSP and the Panthers Party,are concerned they cannot draw comparisons because they have never enjoyed power except for a brief three-year period when two Panthers Party MLAs were members of the
council of ministers headed by Mufti Mohd.Sayeed.Yes Harsh Dev Singh is vocal while claiming that whatever progress the education sector witnessed it was only during the period he held the portfolio of education as a cabinet minister. For intellectuals sweetest songs or those that tell us of the saddest thought.But for politicians sweet words are those that carry the sting in the tail.And in the election everything can be as fair as in love
and war.Though the voter in Jammu and Kashmir has shown,over the years,more maturity than the electorates in rest of the country because here in the state people generally vote not on the consideration of caste or creed,the claims and the counter claims,fulminations of one political group against the other and the art of dangling lollypops have confused voters.Their choice has become difficult.But they are wise enough to sift brain from brawn. |
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