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| Abdul Rahim wrong, NC itself a party to the erosion of internal autonomy | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 23: It bears recalling that Sheikh Abdullah, who re-captured the office of Chief Minister in 1975 under the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah accord despite the fact that his outfit (Plebiscite Front) didn't have a single member either in the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council and after dissolving his Plebiscite Front), had constituted a three-member cabinet-sub committee in 1977 to look into the whole gamut of Central laws and suggest withdrawal of such laws as had eroded the state's internal autonomy it enjoyed under Article 370 and harmed the state. This committee had submitted two contradictory reports. One was from Deputy Chief Minister D. D. Thakur, which said the "needles of the clock cannot be turned back" and the "Central laws had only benefited the people of the state." The other report was from G.M. Shah, the Sheikh's son-in-law, and Ghulam Nabi Kochak, which recommended wholesale withdrawal of all the Central laws and institutions, saying the extension of the Central laws had "eroded the state's internal autonomy" and rendered Article 370 unreal for all practical purposes.
Did Sheikh Abdullah, a staunch votary of autonomy, bordering on virtual sovereignty, accept the report submitted by Shah and Kochak? No, he didn't. On the other hand, he accepted the Thakur report in its entirety. He not only accepted the Thakur's report, but he also allowed New Delhi to extend more Central laws to the state. He was for the retention of political power he got after dissolving the Plebiscite Front or which he got after compromising his ideology.
The story of his son Farooq Abdullah was no different. He did the same for political power. It's a different story that the gullible Kashmiri Muslims didn't take cognizance of the politics of opportunism indulged in by Sheikh Abdullah and his son and allowed them to mislead and hoodwink them under the guise of the so-called threat to the so-called Kashmiriyat (read highly intolerant, regressive and exclusivist thought). It needs to be noted that term "Kashmiriyat" was coined by one Jammu-based columnist after 1975 for reasons best known to him. Perhaps, he wanted to grind his axe by misinforming the nation that "Kashmiriyat is secular, all-embracing and accommodating." In fact, the pleased Sheikh did provide an opportunity to that columnist, but the latter failed to exploit it because the people of Jammu did not pin their faith in him.
The National Conference has no case whatever. It is simply seeking to divert the attention of the people away from the real issues and one of the issues is the widespread resentment and discontent in the state owing to the National Conference's utter failure to provide an efficient, corruption-free, accountable and responsive administration. The National Conference-led coalition government has, instead of taking steps to redress the people's grievances and ameliorating their socio-economic lot, has been dancing to the tunes of the separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani. It would not be out of place to mention here that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is facilitating the Kashmiri extremists' task on the ruins of the National Conference.
It is disgusting to note that those at the helm in New Delhi have never ever contested what the National Conference leaders and ideologues have been saying with regard to autonomy. They should have contested the National Conference's false charges by confronting them with historical facts. They should have exposed them by telling them on their face that they and other Kashmiri leaders, who ruled the state from time to time, were a party to the extension of the Central laws to the state and that there is nothing wrong with these Central laws. Instead, the authorities in New Delhi have all along behaved in an irresponsible manner and the result has been that the Kashmiri leaders have taken full advantage of New Delhi's weakness, ambivalence and confusion. Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather's wild accusation needs to be viewed in this context. Had anyone in the all-party parliamentary delegation contested what the National Conference demanded, the National Conference delegation would have cut a sorry figure because its demands were based on falsehood.
What has been happening in Kashmir is the immediate fall-out of the New Delhi's mishandling. It has never ever tried to contest Muslim identity politics in Kashmir. Nor has it ever allowed democracy and secularism to flower in Kashmir. As a matter of fact, New Delhi has all through sought to "secularize" the Kashmir polity and society through the promotion of communal elements in Kashmir. You just can't promote secularism in any part by hobnobbing with and depending upon those who are out-and-out communal.
Will Abdul Rahim Rather look all these facts on the face and stop indulging in the politics of rabble-rousing? He and others of his ilk must do so. The people of Kashmir are also required to show the National Conference leaders their rightful place. They are exploiters and not the people's well-wishers. (Concluded) |
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