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| Budget session nearing its end, government feeling relieved | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 6: The budget session is drawing to its close. It was to be ended on April 5. Now it has been adjourned till April 9, when the bill on ban on inter-district recruitment would be taken up for consideration. The ruling coalition must be feeling somewhat relieved and relaxed. It remained at the receiving end and on tenterhooks throughout the over one-month-long budget session.
The budget session that the state witnessed during this period was full of troubles for the ruling coalition. The way the marshals were used on a few occasions to evict the protesting opposition legislators from the well of the House indicated the nature of heat in the house. The Delhi-based private TV national channels gave extensive coverage to such incidents, thus telling the nation that it had become difficult to transact business in the state legislature. Indeed, a sad reflection on Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides, there were occasions when it appeared that the state government was unprepared to take on its opponents, who resorted to the politics of walkout on an unprecedented scale. Some of the walkouts were on issues and sometimes these walkouts took place because of the failure of the floor managers or when the opposition felt that they were not being heard. The most notable aspect of the whole situation was the role of some of the legislators belonging to the ruling coalition, especially the National Conference.
They sprang a big surprise when they made common cause with the opposition legislators like the one belonging to the Langate constituency and walked out of the House, along with a few opposition legislators. In fact, on at least three occasions, a couple of MLAs belonging to the treasury benches walked out of the House on the issue of ban on inter-district recruitment. Their conduct was unprecedented, notwithstanding their assertion that whatever they did they did it in the interest of their respective constituencies. Their walkouts did create an awkward situation for the National Conference.
Even the Congress legislators did not lag behind, but for right reasons. Their role in the Legislative Council did embarrass and corner the Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla and other bigwigs. They opposed the introduction of the anti-women bill in the Legislative Council on March 8, 1ooth International Women's Day, saying the Legislative Council committed an act of constitutional impropriety by allowing introduction of a bill that sought an amendment in the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution and that sought to deprive the female state subjects of their fundamental rights, including the right to own immovable property, inherit ancestral property and so on in case they would marry non-state subjects. Their role was very positive and it was their intervention that made the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council Arvinder Singh reject the controversial bill.
Another most notable aspect was the unity among the opposition parties, which otherwise have serious ideological differences. Leave aside divisions among them on regional and communal lines. There were occasions when all the opposition legislators walked out of the House at the same time. It was indeed very surprising to hear that the PDP and the BJP legislators had walked out of the House on the same issue. It was surprising because there is nothing that is common between these two parties. The PDP stands for an ideology the state unit of the BJP opposes, notwithstanding the fact that it was the BJP-led NDA Government that started the peace process with Pakistan; that agreed to divide Jammu province along Chenab river on communal lines; that agreed to give maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir and its adjoining areas; and that agreed to accommodate the Pakistani viewpoint on the Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
The trouble of the ruling coalition is still not over. The Assembly would again meet on April 9 to take up yet another controversial and sensitive inter-district recruitment bill. The consideration of this bill would not only bring the ruling coalition face to face with the main opposition PDP and the BJP, the JKNPP and the Jammu State Morcha (all opposed to the bill), but would also bring the NC and the Congress face to face with each other. The Jammu-based Congress MLAs would play the role the Jamu-based Congress MLCs played in the Legislative Council on March 5. Since they know that their core constituency is Jammu province, which houses several Scheduled Caste communities (all Hindus), they would oppose the bill seeking a complete ban on inter-district recruitment, thus bringing to the fore once again serious differences within the ruling coalition.
The National Conference has to learn lessons from what happened during the budget session. It would do well to ensure the introduction of only those bills that unite the people and not divide them on whatever ground. There is still time for the National Conference to review its stand on the inter-district recruitment bill so that it is saved from further harassment. Anyway, this budget session would be remembered for years to come.
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