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| Justice Saghir Report: NC again walked into PDP trap | | STARK REALITY - III | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 28: As if all this was not enough to put the NC-led government in the dock and show that both the NC and the Congress are pulling in different directions for obvious reasons, the NC floor managers created one more difficulty for the government.
The case in point is the announcement in the Assembly by the Speaker that the government was willing to discuss the Justice Saghir Ahmad report on the Centre-State relations. In fact, the presiding officer was so accommodating that he announced on Thursday (March 25) that he could convene a five-day-long "special session in Srinagar" to discuss not just the Saghir Ahmed report, but also other reports submitted by the Working Groups to the Prime Minister.
It is important to note that only the NC and the "Paharis" have welcomed the report because it has recommended autonomy for the state and Scheduled Tribe status for "Paharis".
The Speaker made this announcement in response to the PDP's ideologue and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beg's reminder about the request made by him and Leader of the Opposition and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to discuss Saghir Ahmed report.
The NC floor managers and strategists may say that it was the Speaker who agreed to what the PDP leader suggested. But the fact remains that it was the former who could be held responsible for creating another difficulty for the Omar Abdullah-led government, which cannot be termed as a stable government in the real sense of the term. They had neither done the proper homework nor did they try to understand the intentions of the PDP behind its insistence on a discussion on the controversial report on Centre-state relations.
There are potent reasons to believe that discussion in the Assembly on the Saghir Ahmed report would generate much heat. It will not only bring the NC and the Congress face to face with each other, create fissures within the government itself and greatly help the PDP leadership score points and win over and strengthen its constituency in Kashmir, but would also give another opportunity to parties like the BJP, the JKNPP and the JSM to not only beat the NC leadership, but also the Congress party, their main political rival in Jammu province.
The BJP, the JKNPP and the JSM, which have already grilled and cornered the NC-led government on the issues referred to in part I and part II, would raise a storm not only in the Assembly but also in Jammu province, where the people are ready to join their anti-autonomy crusade.
It bears recalling that all these parties - apart from the Bar Association Jammu (BAJ) and a large number socio-religious and students organizations - have already dismissed the Saghir Ahmed report as "anti-Jammu", "anti-Ladakh", "anti-national", "anti-refugees" and "divisive", and for right reasons. Besides, they have denounced Justice Saghir Ahmed saying that he submitted the report unilaterally or without taking most of the members of the Working Group into confidence and that what he submitted was nothing more than a carbon-copy of the NC Autonomy Committee report.
It also bears recalling that Jammu has already observed one-day complete shutdown against the recommendations as contained in the Saghir Ahmed report. No less than twenty press conferences and as many as eight seminars have been organized between December 23, when the report was submitted to the Chief Minister, and till date to register opposition to the Saghir Ahmed report.
The Jammu-based Congress leaders are aware of the ground situation in this province. They are also aware of the fact that the people of this province, barring a handful of "Paharis", are against the Saghir report. Though none of the Jammu-based Congress leaders has publicly denounced the Saghir Ahmed recommendations so far, yet in their heart of hearts all of them abhor these recommendations. And, when it would come to the crunch, they would surely make cause with the constituency they represent and identify themselves completely with it as they have started doing on the issues of gender equality and inter-district recruitment.
Thus, the NC-led government would come under attack from all sides, including the PDP because it has also rejected the Saghir Ahmed report on the ground that it was prepared keeping into consideration the interests of the NC.
Omar Abdullah and other senior NC leaders must sit up and take note of the PDP machinations so that the government is saved from embarrassment. The best for them to do would to ensure discussion in the legislature only on the non-controversial, state and nation-centric issues. They must rein in their think tanks and strategists who have only added to the woes of the Chief Minister and created a situation that could even lead to the collapse of the government. The Chief Minister would commit a big political mistake if he depends upon the Congress for surmounting the problems confronting him and his government. Congress will not come to his rescue even if it means fall of the government. The compulsion of the Congress is its Jammu constituency and it cannot ignore it. The sooner the Chief Minister acknowledges the Congress compulsion the better. Otherwise! (Concluded)
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