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| Like Sheikh and Farooq Omar starts fulminating against centre | | Behind the veil | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Oct 6: As has been the case with his grandfather so has it been with the grandson. He is, though at times, as good or bad in politics as has been his father. This sums up the current bewilderment of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah. When the centre announced its 8-point peace package for Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah was one among those who welcomed it. And he is the same Omar who, on Wednesday, lashed out at the same central Government for not having consulted him on the opening of schools when it announced its 8-point peace package.
Till Wednesday Omar was silent on the issue and his recent meeting with Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi was part of his thanks giving plan. In the meeting he had pleaded for lucrative employment package for the unemployed youth in the state and Manmohan Singh is said to have accepted his plea. During the meeting Omar did not convey his anger over the decision of the centre to include opening of schools in its 8-point package.
Omar's face brightened when Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram lauded the state Government for having opened the schools. It raises one question. Why did not Omar convey his displeasure to the centre on the same day Chidambaram praised Omar led Government for having opened the schools? Omar himself alone can answer this question.
What reasons led Omar to fulminate against the centre when he has been looking for the Congress led UPA Government's support for ensuring the survival of his (Omar's) Government? Inside reports said that animated debate on the Kashmir issue on the floor of the Assembly, where majority of members, after declaring Kashmir as a dispute, wanted immediate solution to the problem which alone could guarantee peace. Omar was quick to read the pulse of the members and in order to appease people and the separatists he has urged the centre to find a "unique" solution to the Kashmir problem. "Do not blame me if you cannot find a unique solution to the Kashmir issue," he thundered on the floor of the Assembly. He, however, did not explain what did he mean by "unique solution." Thank God he did not toe the line of separatists who have been favouring a solution which could satisfy the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan because that solution may be quite impossible.
Knowledgeable circles said that whenever Sheikh Abdullah or Farooq Abdullah found ground under their feet slipping they would not hesitate fulminating against the Government of India. Whenever Sheikh Abdullah found his going as head of the state smooth he would not touch the issue of state's accession with India. And the time he found he was being teased by the centre he would open his mouth and question, if not the state's accession, but the quantum of accession.
He regained power with the support of the Congress in 1975 and headed the Government in Jammu and Kashmir. After 1977, when the Congress withdrew support, the same Sheikh would describe Congress as the "worms of gutters."
Supporters of National Conference staged obscene demonstrations in the Iqbal Park somewhere in early 1983 during the election rally which was being addressed by Indira Gandhi. The then Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, had to pay a price for this. His duly elected Government was unseated through defections, engineered by the Congress, in 1984. And the same Farooq forged an alliance with Rajiv Gandhi which resulted in the formation of an alliance Government after the 1987 election. Hence one need not blame Omar for his anti-centre utterances because his task is to make the separatists and the PDP irrelevant by hijacking their agenda. It is in this context he has been toeing the line of the separatists by demanding withdrawal of troops, AFSPA, release of the detainees. And last of all the resolution of the Kashmir issue. It is something else that Omar may not succeed is his mission. |
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