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| NC Wrong: 1975 accord was implemented in full in 1975 itself | | STARK REALITY | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 27: National Conference (NC) leader and MLA, Mustafa Kamaal is unhappy with the Congress party. The speech he made in the assembly during the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address on Thursday indicates that he is angry with the Congress for three specific reasons.
One is that the successive Congress-led governments at the Centre extended as many as 92 Central laws to the state between 1953 and 1975 using unconstitutional methods to erode the state’s special status. The other is that the Congress stabbed his father Sheikh Abdullah in the back by withdrawing support to his government in 1977. The third reason is that the 1975 accord between his father and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was not implemented in letter and spirit.
Yes, it is true that J&K was brought under the ambit of 92 Central laws between August 9, 1953 and February 1975. But it is also true that all these Central laws were introduced in the state with the “concurrence” of the state government and through the process Article 370 specifies. There was not a single Central law that was imposed on J&K against the state’s will or bypassing the state government. Between 1953 and 1975, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, Shams-ud-Din, G M Sadiq and Mir Qasim ruled the state.
That the Union Government did not extend even a single Central law to the state can be seen from page 63 of the April 1999 Report of the State Autonomy Committee. It says: “Successive state governments had in the past accorded their ‘concurrence’ for various reasons…”
It needs to be underlined that the autonomy committee report nowhere refers to the 1975 accord in the real sense of the terms. In fact, it is silent and hence the whole criticism of the NC stalwart is intriguing.
Even more significant perhaps is the desperate attempt on the part of the critics of the Central laws, especially the NC ideologues and propagandists, to conceal the fact that no less than 16 more Central laws were extended to the state during the reigns of Sheikh Abdullah, G M Shah (son-in-law of the Sheikh and himself a staunch votary of greater autonomy) and Farooq Abdullah. These included Inter-State Migrant Workmen Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service Act, 1979 (30 of 1979); Hotel Receipt Tax Act, 1980; Union Duties of Excise (Electricity) Distribution Act, 1980; Control of Pollution Act, 1981; Civil Workers and Cinema Theatres Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981; Company Secretaries Act, 1981; Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1981 (41 of 1981); Export-Import Bank of India Act, 1981 (28 of 1981) Enforced by S.O. 919 (E) dated 29.12.1981 w.e.f. 1.1.1982; Special Bearer Bonds Immunities and Exemption Act, 1981; National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981; Sugar Cess Act, 1982; Sugar Development Act, 1982; Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1983; Dangerous Machine Regulation Act, 1983 (35 of 1983); and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985.
Not only this. It was also during the rule of Farooq Abdullah that the state was brought under the jurisdiction of POTA. In fact, he was the first Chief Minister in the country who adopted it and enforced it with full might. This is the stark reality and the likes of Mustafa Kamaal should not mislead the public opinion by distorting and suppressing hard facts of history.
Similarly, Mustafa Kamaal just cannot mislead the public opinion by saying that the 1975 accord was not implemented in its entirety. It was implemented in full in 1975 itself, when the Congress handed over the state power to the Sheikh on a platter overlooking the fact that his outfit didn’t have even a single legislator either in the legislative assembly or in the legislative council. That he doesn’t appreciate the Congress’ controversial gesture speaks for itself and establishes that the criticism on this score is motivated.
As for his observation on the need to review the Central laws, Mustafa Kamaal would do well to go through the Justice Sageer Ahmed’s report on the Centre-State relations. He should look at pages 65 to 70 of the report.
These pages and several other pages in the report contain information on the steps the Sheikh took to get the Central laws evaluated, including the constitution of a three-member Cabinet sub-committee on October 5, 1978 invested with the power to look into all the Central laws and suggest withdrawal of such laws deemed harmful for the state. He should know that the Sheikh had not accepted the report of G M Shah and Ghulam Nabi Kochak that recommended wholesale withdrawal of the Central laws. He should also know that the Sheikh had not rejected the report of D. D. Thakur (July 18, 1981) that said “needles of the clock cannot be turned back” and that the Central laws had greatly benefited the state and the people.
Mustafa Kamaal and similar other NC ideologues and propagandists must look all these facts in the face and stop vitiating further the state’s already vitiated atmosphere. The need of the time and the people of the state is the extension of all the Central laws to the state so that they also enjoys the fruits of the Indian democracy, whatever be its nature.
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