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| Let Omar prefer Kulgam to Kallu | | |
Nirbhay Jammual
When Farooq Abdullah was sworn in Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in September 1982,after the death of his father Sheikh Abdullah, he did not segregate his love of recreation from his official commitment. He gave weightage to fun. He would roam like a free bird instead of concentrating on file work in the civil secretariat. He was a failure. And when he and his party were voted to power in 1983 election his political foes and supporters had predicted that Farooq would work as a disciplined soldier of the National Conference. He did not. He won th 1987 Assembly election and people had expected that Farooq may have learnt a lesson or two from his mistakes that he committed since 1982.He belied peoples' expectations except that he had become wiser on one front. He had realised that the state Government could not function properly if it entered into a collision course with the centre. It was out of this realisation that he forged an alliance with the Congress which was called Farooq-Rajiv Accord of 1986.
Farooq Abdullah had been th Chief Minister of the state on three occasions. He was usually criticised for his love for spending more time outside the state than in the civil secretariat.He could do it because he had left everything in the hands of Ashok Jaitley and B.R.Singh,two powerful bureaucrats who had received full patronage from Farooq. People vote for a particular party simply to ensure that their problems were resolved by the leaders whom they had voted to power.Farooq never believed in it. He was more interested in flying to London to see his wife. He flew to Mumbai to meet Sharad Pawar He would fly to Chandigarh to meet Chautalas to keep his links intact with those who wanted to keep another front ready. Despite this he was still accepted by people in Jammu and Kashmir because he would talk to them in the language they understood. His charisma never died because he was opposed to carrying a frown on his face.
And when Omar Abdullah took over as the Chief Minister of the state people were of the opinion that he would deliver the goods better than his father. The reason being his performance as Union Minister of state for commerce and later as union Minister of state for External Affairs. There is one major difference between the son and the father. The son does not play any political pranks while the father is adept in playing political pranks. But those who had pinned hopes on Omar are disillusioned. The reason is that since January last he has spent more time outside th state than in Jammu and Kashmir. He seems to have learnt one lesson. He seems to believe that the entire function of the Government is not run by political; leaders but by the bureaucrats. Hence he has had enough time to fly to Mumbai, Delhi, to the Mecca and other countries and states. He had time to visit Manali and adjoining areas. He did so because he knew that his absence cannot have any adverse impact on the state and its people. Young Omar, do not take things lightly and that too when the six year boy,the PDP,has started dethroning the 71-year old National Conference. Only advice to Omar is to be available to common people whether in the civil secretariat or in his official residence. Mix with people. You are the political hero.If you prefer Manali to Mattan, Kallu to Kulgam, Jhakkhand to Jammu, Mumbai to Maharanganj you may prove a sinking ship for th National Conference
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