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| “Three Idiots”: Politics in J&K has become a dirty game | | STARK REALITY | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 28: The Assembly session has been on since February 22. But the Assembly has not discussed so far any of the public-related and development-related issues. If anything, the ruling coalition partners and the opposition are fighting political battles not only on the floor of the assembly but also outside it, thus leaving the general masses in the lurch. If this trend continues, and there are reasons to believe that it would continue to dominate the proceedings in the assembly and state’s political scene during the left over period, it would be considered as a black chapter in the history of the J&K legislature.
Political parties do try to score point and there is nothing wrong in it if the issues involved are of democratic and economic nature. But what is happening in the state is horrible. Political parties, which are at the helm and in the opposition, are ignoring the people’s aspirations, problems and immediate needs. They are not just indulging in the naked and dirty game of one-upmanship for petty political and personal gains as has been happening in our state, but they are in the process bringing a bad name to them and undermining the very institutions they are required to respect and protect.
The last 10 days or so have witnessed developments in and outside the state legislature the people of the state never witnessed before. The manner in which the PDP legislators have behaved and the methodology certain elements in the ruling coalition have sought to counter them have established that they are interested more in settling personal score and blackening each other’s face than in the welfare of the state and the poor people.
Take, for example, the vilification campaign unleashed by the PDP through SMS. One can disagree with, and even denounce, the policies which were pursued by Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah and which are not being pursued by Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister.
One can term their policies as anti-people and anti-state. But how could one stoop so low and use for Sheikh Abdullah and his son and grandson such dirty invectives as “three idiots” and “Aadamkhor”? That the PDP took recourse so such dirty politics is a reflection on the kind of leadership under which the party is functioning.
The PDP leadership has undoubtedly brought a bad name to J&K, which is already under scanner for various negative reasons, corruption, mal-administration, support to separatists and subversives, opposition to the Central laws, criticism of the Indian state and Indian political system, common cause of certain Kashmiri leaders with Pakistan and so on included.
It’s true that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declared on the floor of the Assembly on February 25 that it was the PDP which could be legitimately accused of ruthlessly violating human rights of the people of Kashmir and misappropriating or looting and plundering hundreds and hundreds of crores of rupees earmarked for the public-utility schemes and infra-structural development. It’s also true that the angry Chief Minister paid back the PDP leaders in the same coin when he referred to the firing on Maulana Farooq’s funeral procession in May 1990 and asserted that the said firing “explains who is Aadamkhor”.
Accepted that Omar Abdullah should not have used the term Aadamkhor. But how could one think in terms of not allowing the Chief Minister to inform the Assembly about what happened in the state during the PDP-led regime. Whatever He said it was based on hard facts. He did not make any general statement. He cited figures after figures to counter the misinformation campaign launched by the PDP in and outside the assembly.
That the arrogant and unrepentant PDP leadership took the official version as a personal attack and that it went to the extent of unleashing a vilification campaign against the NC top-ranking leaders only proves that it has no regard whatsoever for the parliamentary democracy and that it could cross all the limits to subvert democracy. There is no doubt that the PDP leadership will have to pay a very heavy price in the coming days for the kind of role it has been playing as the main opposition party in the state.
Everything is not lost. The PDP leadership still has the time to change its style of functioning. And, it can do so by raking up public-centric and development-related issues, as opposed to the pro-separatist and pro-Pakistan-related issues. Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather was absolutely right when he took to task PDP president Mehboba Mufti and demanded an unconditional apology from the PDP leadership the response to which was again highly provocative and undesirable. Will the PDP leadership oblige the Finance Minister and other NC leaders by tendering an apology and starting their inning in the assembly afresh positively? It must. Otherwise, people across the country would say politics in J&K has become a dirty game, a game of scoundrels. Those at the helm should also exercise utmost restraint and give sufficient time to the opposition so that it discharges its obligations towards the people it represents.
5.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Kashmir
Srinagar: An earthquake of 5.7 magnitude rocked the Kashmir Valley, including summer capital, Srinagar and its adjoining areas early this morning, forcing people to rush out of their houses in panic.
A weather office spokesman said here the tremors which were felt at 0451 hrs lasted for several seconds.
The quake was epicentered 36 degree north (latitude) and 70.1 longitude (east) in the Hindu kush region in Afghanistan.People rushed out of their homes in panic despite cold outside and took shelter in open spaces.There was, however, no report of any loss of life or damage to property so far, officials said.
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