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| JKPCC Chief Soz speaks out: CM Omar at the receiving end | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 28: And, now it is the turn of JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz to take on Chief Minister Abdullah and set the record straight as far as the issue of the state’s accession to India was concerned. And, he took on the Chief minister not in a one-on-one meeting. He contested what the Chief Minister had said on the floor of the assembly on October 6 at Dayalachak, Kathua district, while interacting with reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of a Congress rally. He went to the extent of advising the Chief Minister, who has been drawing flake from almost all quarters ever since he made that irresponsible statement, to read his grandfather’s autobiography Aatish-e-Chinar. “Omar Sahib will be well advised to study rather minutely the autobiography of his grand-father Aaatish-e-Chinar,” he told reporters. The JKPCC chief rejected out-of-hand the Chief Minister’s unfounded formulation and, like Dr Karan Singh, stated in clear terms that the issue of accession clinched the moment the Maharaja of the state took decision on it.
The JKPCC chief what was correct. He did not stop here. He did say that he never blamed the Chief Minister’s governance for the prevailing unrest and anarchy in the Kashmir Valley, but he did express his dissatisfaction over the manner Omar Abdullah has been treating the Congress party. Expressing his dissatisfaction over the style of functioning of the Chief Minister, he remarked: “While talking to some channels on that subject (passage of Trans-World Muslim University Kashmir bill, Sikh University bill etc) I had maintained that these are very crucial subjects. Neither these bills were discussed in assembly nor discussed in the cabinet. Our advice was not sought. On such crucial issues, we must have safety valves and we should not act in haste as these can have serious repercussions. These bills were rushed (through in) the assembly and were passed there. However when these (Bill) were (subsequently brought in for discussion in the legislative council), I was alerted. So we acted and advised against its passage in haste. Thus the bill was sent to (the) Select Committee.”
Even a cursory look at what Prof Saif-ud-Din Said at Dayalachak would be enough to reach the right conclusion that all is not well with the ruling coalition or that there exists serious differences between the National Conference and the Congress on the issue of governance. One can easily draw a conclusion that the Chief Minister is bypassing the Congress with a view to catering to his own Kashmir constituency ignoring the interests of the Congress party in the state. The situation has now climaxed to the point that the National Conference has started converting the official functions into the National Conference rallies. Take, for example, the case of Avtal village in the Vijaypur area. While the National Conference workers were conspicuous by their presence in the official programme, where one of the Panthers Party’s activists showed black flag to the Chief Minister and shouted “go back, go back”, none of the Congressmen, not even former minister Manjit Singh, was present on the occasion. (The Panthers Party activist had been registering his protest against the Chief Minister’s statement on accession/merger.)
In fact, the JKPCC chief also hinted at this issue while talking to media persons. In this regard, he said: “They (organizers of the official programme and National Conference leaders and workers) would have been benefited by inviting Congress leaders and workers. They should have invited. I would say that it was a mistake…” That Prof Soz said that it was not a “big mistake” is a different matter. He conveyed everything in a subtle manner and cautioned the Chief Minister in his own typical style.
The fact of the matter is that the Chief Minister is at the receiving end. None appears happy with him. It can be said that the National Conference-Congress coalition is “working dangerously.” Anything can happen any time. Let US President Barrack Hussain Obama complete his Indian visit in November. |
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