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| Azad became CM to harm Jammu, promote communalism | | Kathua Address -- I | | ET REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 12: Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad did well to accuse the Omar Abdullah-led government of not completing the "around 1550 development works and schemes", which were started during his tenure as Chief Minister in J&K. No one can find fault with what he said at Kathua on November 10 while addressing the people gathered at Shaheedi Chowk to pay tributes to the Kargil martyrs. It would be an exercise in self-deception if the people continue to pin faith in the Chief Minister and believe that he would complete the works his predecessor started. For, the Chief Minister is interested more in rabble-rousing than in the people's welfare. He is interested more in promoting the Pakistani interests and the interests of the Kashmiri extremists and separatists and extremists than in taking interest in public-utility schemes. Azad needs to be commended for his plain-speaking and his adverse comments on the Omar Abdullah-led dysfunctional government.
However, the statement of Azad that "he came to Jammu not for political gain but to serve the people of the state" is untenable considering the role he played in the state when he was its Chief Minister. Even an apolitical person would vouch for the fact that Azad, as Chief Minister, only harmed the legitimate interests of the people of Jammu province, accorded a preferential treatment to Kashmir and did nothing to promote secularism in the communally sensitive state. He did things none of his predecessor had ever dared to do. A brief description here about what happened in the state during his regime would be in order. Look at the following eight example and see for yourself what happened in the state during the Azad regime:-
One, the Panthers Party, one of the coalition partners, moved a private member's bill in the Assembly seeking support of the House in favour of the suggestion that there should be only one flag for the state. The bill highlighted the significance of the national flag and wanted all the political parties to adopt the same so that the provisions concerning the state flag were repealed and the national flag reigned supreme in Jammu and Kashmir, as was the case with other states of the Union. All the coalition partners, without any exception, and the opposition NC summarily rejected the landmark private member's bill. The bill simply aimed at integrating the state with the rest of the country and bringing Jammu and Kashmir at par with other states of the Union.
Two, it may appear preposterous and unbelievable, but it is a fact that all the coalition partners, with the exception of the JKNPP, adopted in no time a private member's bill, which was moved by the opposition NC. The bill provided for one-year imprisonment for those who would not show the kind of respect the state flag deserved. The NC had moved this bill to counter the BJP's age-old one-flag (read national flag) and one-constitution (read Indian Constitution) slogan. The defeat of the private member's bill" on national flag and the adoption of the bill on punishment for those not showing due respect to the state flag and the unflinching support extended by the ruling party to the Valley-based outfits had then sprang a big surprise, with the people questioning the very credentials of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Three, one of the BJP legislators moved a private member's bill seeking citizenship rights for the refugees from West Pakistan, numbering approximately 1.5 lakh, mostly members belong to the Scheduled Caste community. He urged the House to adopt it saying these poor refugees had been denied their fundamental rights, including the right to own immovable property in the state, right to contest election to the Assembly and local bodies, right to franchise, right to equality, right to higher and professional education, right to bank loan, right to obtain jobs under the State Government and so on, but with no result. The ruling party (congress) and all other parties, barring the Panthers Party, the BJP and the Jammu State Morcha, opposed the bill tooth and nail. The result was that the well-intentioned and well-conceived bill collapsed.
The opposition of the ruling Congress to the bill was beyond comprehension considering the fact that Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister), Lal Kishan Advani (former Deputy Prime Minister) Inder Kumar Gujral (former Prime Minister), Jagmohan (former Governor and Union Minister), Arun Shourie (former Union Minister) and so on were all refugees from Pakistan. That the Congress and the NC, the PDP, the PDF and the CPI-M joined hands and got the bill defeated only indicated their lack of commitment to the human rights of the refugees from West Pakistan, as also their willingness to go with those in Kashmir who were opposed to these refugees on the ground that their empowerment would change the demographic profile of the Assembly segments in Jammu and enhance the Jammu's representation in the legislature. (To be continued) |
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