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| Trans-world Muslim University: Congress again commits a wrong | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 16: Congress is a national party. It cannot afford to have a truck with those whose agenda is divisive; who want to give a particular type of orientation to the state’s polity and society; who want the people to hold aloof from modern education and turn to such seminaries that trained persons in theology and other old-fashioned disciplines. But the local Congress, instead of defeating such regressive forces, seems inclined towards those who still believe in medieval concepts and conservatism.
Take, for example, what the Congress ministers and the Congress legislators, without any exception, did on the floor of the assembly on the last day of its session. They voted for a private member’s bill seeking establishment in Kashmir of Trans-world Muslim University. The bill was adopted without any discussion. The support of the National Conference (NC) for the controversial bill was understandable. After all, the NC is an outfit with a primitive and sectarian outlook. But the manner in which the Congress ministers and the Congress legislators extended their support to the bill without weighing its pros and cons did create doubts about their ability to understand the dangerous implications of what the NC had done in the past and has been doing since it came back to power in 2009 with the help of the Congress.
It needs to be noted that the Trans-world Muslim University, if established, would be funded and controlled by various countries. JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz was right when he virtually disapproved of the idea of establishing Trans-World Muslim University in Kashmir, saying the establishment of such a university might further inter-regional angularities and promote divisive agenda. The extent of his anger could be gauged from the fact that he told a Kashmir-based English daily that the NC did not discuss the issue with the Congress party and that the matter was not discussed in the NC-Congress coordination committee. It is a different story that the NC countered such allegations by saying that the Congress ministers and Congress legislators were not consulted. The NC even went to the extent of asserting that the Congress ministers and legislators “supported” the bill in the legislative assembly and also “participated in the discussion,” thus creating an awkward situation for the Congress party.
Significantly, the controversial private member’s bill could not be passed in the legislative council because there were differences with the NC and between the NC and the Congress. The NC MLCs like Ajay Sadhotra and almost all the Congress MLCs wanted the Deputy Chairman of the Council to refer this bill and two other similar bills to a select committee. The House ultimately decided to refer these private member’s bills to a select committee, which will submit its report within two months.
It is not the first occasion when the Congress had to go on the back foot and review its stand. It happened during the regime of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The shrewd Mufti made the Congress to move an official bill in the assembly aimed at depriving the daughters of the state of their right to own immovable property or inherit ancestral property and obtain jobs under the state government in case they would marry non-state subjects. The move created a storm in Jammu and elsewhere in the country. The result was that the same Congress that had adopted the bill opposed it tooth and nail. The bill collapsed and the Mufti failed.
In 2008, the Congress did the same. It withdrew its own order under which a small piece of land at Baltal had been transferred to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for creating facilities for the Amarnath pilgrims on a temporary basis during the pilgrimage period. The mind-boggling decision provoked explosions in Jammu and elsewhere in the country. The decision even led to the fall of the Congress-led government in the state. Convinced that the decision had adversely impacted its electoral prospects in Jammu and elsewhere, the Congress changed stand, with almost all the Jammu-based Congress leaders and workers joined the Amarnath land movement. Had the Jammu-based Congress leaders not supported the Jammu movement, the Congress would not have won a single seat in Jammu province.
The Congress also displayed height of irresponsibility in 2009, when its MLCs gave unflinching support to the controversial resolution demanding the setting up of Chenab Valley autonomous council. The resolution was moved by none other than the Revenue Minister. It was adopted in no time. There was no discussion on the resolution that had the potential of dividing Jammu province on communal lines. Subsequently, the Congress realized its mistake – mistake committed at the behest of the NC, and changed its stand. The controversial resolution now stands redundant because the matter was not referred to the assembly within the stipulated period.
All this shows that the Congress has not been behaving in the fashion a national party needs to behave. During the past few years, the Congress has cut a sorry figure umpteen times and become a laughing stock. The Congress needs to be very careful while dealing with the NC or similar other Kashmir-based outfits. It must see to it that no bill and no resolution that has the potential of communalizing the state polity and society and that has the potential of sharpening inter-regional animosities is passed either in the legislative assembly or in the legislative council. One can only hope and pray that the Congress would see through the NC’s game plan and not support any controversial bill/resolution in future.
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