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| Regionalism within Cabinet: It is better to divide Jammu and Kashmir | | | STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 1: What happened during the April 29 Cabinet meeting in Jammu clearly suggested that the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is a divided lot and that the Cabinet Ministers are vertically divided into two groups. One group behaves as if its duty is not only to look after Kashmir and promote its interests but also to establish its hegemony over the administrative apparatus in Jammu or appoint persons of its choice in Jammu province. The other group, which has its permanent interests in Jammu and which does not want the Kashmir-based Cabinet Ministers to establish their stranglehold over the administrative machinery in Jammu for political reasons, wants the government to allow them a free hand in Jammu province so that they could put persons of their choice at right places and extend their area of influence.
Significantly, to the first group also belongs a couple of Jammu-based minister. They belong to the National Conference and it is their compulsion. They cannot go against the dictates of the National Conference, which is basically a Kashmir-based party. In Jammu province, it has only a few pockets where the National Conference has its supporters. The moment any of the Jammu-based National Conference ministers would oppose the party line, he would be shown the door and dismissed from the ministry in no time and, hence, their support to the official line of the National Conference.
So it is basically a division between the National Conference ministers and the Jammu-based Congress ministers. What transpired in the April 29 Cabinet meeting is a proof that the Cabinet consists of disparate elements, all pulling in different directions and indicating sharp divisions among them created by their regional approach to the issues facing them. It would be no exaggeration to say that the Cabinet has virtually battle ground where the arch rivals oppose each other, try to settle scores, seek to let down each other and insist that their opinion alone should reign supreme.
The developments in the April 29 Cabinet meeting also indicated that things have reached a point of no return and that only a miracle can help both the groups bridge their differences. This became quite evident when the Jammu-based Congress ministers reportedly suggested during the Cabinet meeting that Kashmir-based ministers should limit their activities to Kashmir and Jammu-based ministers be given full freedom as far as postings and transfers in Jammu province are concerned.
It may be noted that the Cabinet meeting had been held to discuss some major agendas, including the issue of promotions and transfers of senior police officers and bureaucrats, but ended amidst uproarious scenes. According to sources, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wanted the Cabinet to adopt his proposal that postings and transfers of SSPs and DCs should no more be on the Cabinet agenda and that the concerned departments should have full powers in this regard. The Congress ministers opposed the proposal tooth and nail. In other words, nothing came out of the meeting, except the formation of a committee that would look into the issues and come out with a definite proposal.
In other words, it all started when the Jammu-based Congress ministers reportedly told in the meeting that would not allow the National Conference ministers to interfere in the proposals submitted by them or to be submitted by them and that they would also not interfere in the proposals relating to Kashmir province. According to sources, the Jammu-based Congress ministers made it loud and clear in the meeting that only they would handle all the Jammu-related issues.
It was not just the issue of postings and transfers that brought the Jammu-based and Kashmir-based ministers face to face with each other. Another issue that made the Jammu-based Congress ministers take on the Kashmir-based ministers was the one that related to the "transfer of Gulmarg land in which one of the top bureaucrats was involved, who had also served as Divisional Commissioner Kashmir". The Congress ministers raised this issue but with no result. According to sources, the National Conference ministers "supported the tainted ex-bureaucrat". It was the unwillingness on the part of the Kashmir-based National Conference ministers that led to heated exchanges in the Cabinet meeting.
Yet another issue that created heat during the Cabinet meeting was the reported move designed to make Urdu language mandatory for appointment as Naib Tehsildars and similar other positions in the revenue department. The Jammu-based Congress ministers, according to reliable sources, also opposed this move on regional considerations. (To be continued)
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