news details |
|
|
| UPA, NC speaking differently on elections in J&K | | News ANALYSIS | | ET REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 29: Speaking in Jammu on September 27 in the Government Medical College, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made one highly controversial, nay an highly outrageous, statement regarding the holding of assembly elections in 2008. He said: "We had not made tall claims during the elections about resolving the Kashmir issue. We had sought votes from the people to resolve their day-to-day problems and we are leaving no stone unturned in this direction."
What he said actually ran counter to what the Congress-led UPA government has been saying on this issue since years. It has been hailing the 2008 assembly elections in the state as highly free and fair and describing the participation of the people in the democratic exercise as their commitment to the nation and full faith in the country's democratic set-up. The Government of India is absolutely right. The massive participation of the people in the 2008 assembly elections indeed was a vote for India and against those working against India and exploiting the people for ulterior motives.
Paradoxically, the Chief Minister took the line his main political opponent Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has been advocating ever since November 2002, when he got the office of Chief Minister on a platter and in the so-called national interest. In fact, both the Mufti and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah are negating the very constitution of the country, as also the very constitution of the state, which clearly and unequivocally state that Jammu and Kashmir is a settled issue and an integral part of India. As a matter of fact, the Chief Minister and his predecessor and others of their ilk are committing an act of constitutional impropriety by saying that "we had sought votes from the people to resolve their day-to-day problems and we are leaving no stone unturned in this direction" and that the formation of the government and the Kashmir issue are two different issues.
It is ironical that neither the UPA Government took to task the Mufti for his outrageous formulation nor has it taken any cognizance of what Omar Abdullah said in Jammu in the presence of many people, including the Medical Education Minister R.S. Chib, thus allowing these Kashmiri leaders to challenge the very concept of India and elections.
It needs to be clearly understood that Jammu and Kashmir is like any other state in the country. It is not operating in a vacuum. It is operating within a well-defined constitutional framework. The constitution unambiguously says that we are all Indians; we will elect our own government every five years; we can dethrone any government if it fails to deliver and fails to discharge its obligations towards the people, the country and the constitution. Our constitution nowhere provides for the secession of any part of the country on any ground whatsoever. On the contrary, it contains provisions aimed at punishing those who do not believe in the unity and integrity of India; who work against the paramount sovereign interests of the country; or who show any disrespect to the nation and the national symbols, including the constitution itself.
India is not a banana republic where anybody can question the issue of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. Indian democracy may be legitimately described as a functional anarchy, but there are people in the political establishment and the bureaucracy who know what the institution of the state means; what borders mean; what sovereignty means; what the Army mean; and what the national boundaries mean. It is a different issue that such people are not that vocal. But it is certain that it is their behind-the-scene influence that is not allowing the likes of Chidambaram to do what he wants to do to help out the beleaguered Omar Abdullah, who has been advocating controversial views to cultivate his sectarian constituency in Kashmir.
The UPA Government has to take note of what the Chief Minister said regarding the assembly elections in the state. It cannot afford to allow him to advocate controversial views. It must tell him that the Jammu and Kashmir is a settled issue and that he must discharge his obligations towards the state and delivers so that the people's legitimate socio-economic and administrative needs are met to their satisfaction. The state Congress also needs to play its role. It should act when it needs to act and the time has come for it to act and act decisively. The Congress can rein in the Chief Minister in no time for the simple reason that the National Conference cannot remain in power even for a moment without its support. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
