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| vCongress of Helplessness Need to pursue Indira Gandhi's line on J-K | | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 22: Indira Gandhi, under whose inspiring, effective and skilful leadership, the Army inflicted a crushing defeat on Pakistan leading to its division and formation of independent and sovereign Bangladesh in 1971, also took a controversial decision in 1975 and asked the then Chief Minister Mir Qasim to abdicate the office in favour of Sheikh Abdullah. At that time, the Sheikh was leading the Plebiscite Front. It is obvious that Indira Gandhi took a calculated risk under the premise that the Sheikh would abandon the path of confrontation and promote the national cause in Kashmir. She took the decision unilaterally, thus ignoring the sentiments of the local Congressmen.
As expected, the re-empowered Sheikh, instead of appreciating the gesture of Indira Gandhi, again took recourse to the politics of blackmail. He not only adopted a threatening tone and posture immediately after recapturing political power through manipulation, but also indulged in communal politics and politics designed to benefit Kashmir and his communal constituency in the Valley and jeopardize the political and economic rights of the people of Jammu and Ladakh. During his first inning (1947-1953), the Sheikh had divided the Hindu-majority Udhampur district on communal basis and created a Muslim-majority Doda district. During his second inning, he divided the Buddhist-majority Ladakh on purely communal lines and created out of it Muslim-majority Kargil district. His objectives were three - pit the followers of one religion against the other, weaken the ongoing movement in Ladakh for its separation from Kashmir and create conditions that would ultimately lead to the formation of Greater Kashmir comprising the whole of Kashmir and the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu province and Ladakh region.
The fact of the matter is that the Sheikh indulged in the kind of politics that left Indira Gandhi with no other option but to withdraw her party's support to the Sheikh-led government in 1977. She took this extreme action on the ground that the Sheikh had become a threat to national security and that his politics of communalism had assumed alarming proportions. It was for the first time that the state was brought the Governor's rule. She took action against the Sheikh's son Farooq Abdullah as well for identical reasons. Describing Farooq Abdullah as a threat to national security, she got his government dismissed. The state again witnessed the Governor's rule. The objective was to neutralize fissiparous tendencies in the Kashmir Valley.
The collapse of the governments of the Sheikh and his son during the time of Indira Gandhi constitutes just one part of the story indicating the ability and unique courage of the Late Prime Minister to intervene and take action against the threatening Kashmiri leaders. The other part of the story is equally significant in the sense that she did her best to bring the state under more Central laws. In other words, she accelerated the process of constitutional integration of the state into the national mainstream, thus making it the cornerstone of her policy in the state.
The most significant aspect of the whole situation during all these years of the state's accession and the relations between the National Conference and the Congress was that the local Congressmen always remained active. They would always take on the National Conference leaders like the Sheikh and Farooq Abdullah, expose them publicly and air their views fearlessly keeping into consideration the interests of their organization and the country. Even far more significant was the fact that the Congress high command and the Union Government had all along swung solidly behind the local Congressmen and those opposing the politics of separatism and communalism in the state at critical moments.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that one of the fundamental factors that worked against the Jana Sangh/BJP in Jammu province and Ladakh region in particular or that didn't help the Jana Sangh/BJP expand its support-base in these two regions was the Congress' focus on the issues of national import. To be more precise, the Congress always contested elections in the state on the slogans on which the Jana Sangh/BJP contested elections.
The situation as it prevails today in Jammu and Kashmir is worse as compared to the situation as it existed during the time of Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. Here is a Chief Minister who has been openly taking on New Delhi, despite the fact that he is in power because of the Congress' support. He has not only been taking on New Delhi and openly promoting the cause of Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists, but also systematically working against the Congress's interests. The need of the time was to oppose him tooth and nail and withdraw support to his government to stem the rot. But that is not happening. The result has been that the Congress is becoming unpopular with each passing day.
The Congress needs to assert. It should pursue the Late Indira Gandhi's line on Jammu and Kashmir. Such a policy alone can help it retrieve the lost ground. It's no use expressing helplessness and unhappiness in camera. Instead of lamenting and expressing unhappiness in the party meetings, the Congress leaders should come out openly and say what they have started saying on such auspicious occasions as the birth anniversary of the Indira Gandhi whom even Atal Bihari Vajpayee had described as Durga and whom even the RSS had publicly eulogized. Thy should remember that Indira Gandhi stood for the state's full integration into India and that it was she who enhanced the nation's stature in the eyes of the international community by winning a great war against Pakistan in 1971. The victory of 1971 was perhaps the greatest victory of India in its 5000-year-old history. (Concluded) |
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