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| Massive response to BJP rally bad omen for Cong | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 25: The people's response to the BJP "Maha Rally" was massive by any standard. While it must have enhanced the confidence of BJP leaders, national and local, it has simply unnerved the local Congress leaders - leave alone the Jammu-based NC leaders who have already become thoroughly unpopular because of their pro-autonomy stance. It's basically the Congress leadership that has to work hard to retrieve the lost ground in its core constituency. The political space in Jammu is gradually but surely being occupied by the BJP, which has adopted an aggressive policy in order to expose the Congress party and strengthen and expand its constituency in the Jammu province. In fact, the BJP leadership is exploiting to the extent possible the prevailing discontent in Jammu province.
Ever since January 2009, when the NC-Congress coalition assumed power, the BJP has been criticizing the Congress party. It has been accusing the Congress of siding with the pro-autonomy and essentially anti-Jammu NC. It has been saying day in and day out that the Congress is a party to all the decisions the NC-led government has taken during the past about two years - decisions that have simply strengthened the separatist and communal forces in Kashmir and promoted the Pakistani cause, particularly in Kashmir. To corner the Congress party, the BJP is telling the people almost everyday that it is primarily because of the unstinted support of the Congress that the NC has been able to attack the institution of the Army and thinking in terms of diluting the ARSPA. Its argument is that had the Congress taken into consideration the country's paramount national interests and taken a clear cut stand on the issues of national import, the NC would not have dared to do things it has done during the past about 24 months.
What has added more to the woes of the Congress party in Jammu province is its utter failure to take on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for what he said on the floor of the assembly on October 7. Omar Abdullah had, it bears recalling, questioned the very status of J&K. He had said the "state only acceded to India and not merged with it." The failure of the Congress party to take a clear stand on J&K has, undoubtedly, given a long stick to the BJP and it is beating the Congress party from right and left. The Union Home Minister and Foreign Minister have further added to the woes of the local Congress leadership by making highly controversial statements on the nature of relations between the state and New Delhi. Both the Union Ministers had stood by the controversial Chief Minister and supported his accession/merger formulation.
The BJP leadership has not only been accusing the Congress of hobnobbing with the NC and supporting its policies fraught with dangerous ramifications, but has also been holding it squarely responsible for meting out step-motherly treatment to the people of Jammu province. Its charge against the Congress party is that the latter has given the NC full freedom to do whatever it wants to do to Kashmir and cause grievous injuries to the general political and economic rights of the people of Jammu province and Ladakh region. What has given to the BJP an additional opportunity to attack and expose the Congress party is the refusal of the chairman of the State Finance Commission to include in the final report the dissenting note given by Swami Raj Sharma and Sonam Dawa, former members of the finance commission. The dissenting note of Sharma and Dawa contained details on gross discrimination with the people of Jammu province in at least nine very vital sectors.
The fact is that while the BJP is on the offensive, the Congress party is on the defensive. The latter has not been able to counter the BJP's no-holds-barred campaign against it. As a matter of fact, the Congress has nothing in its kitty for the people of Jammu province. It just cannot act independently. It consistently looks towards the Congress high command and the Union Government, which seem unwilling to give the local Congress leadership the required freedom to act. Both the Congress high command and the Congress-led UPA Government seem favourably inclined towards the NC and its leadership. With the result, the Jammu-based Congress leadership has become an object of ridicule and contempt. Another result is that the NC has been able to pander to its communal and separatist constituency in Kashmir. All this has made the task of the BJP very easy in Jammu province where the people feel outraged; where resentment is brewing at an alarming speed because of the indifferent attitude of the state government as well as the Central Government towards its genuine aspirations, including the very genuine demand that the Jammu-based universities, including the Central University of Jammu, should be headed by local academicians.
The Congress is in a dilemma. It wants to act, but it can't because the Congress high command is applying brakes, as also because the Union Government is siding with the Chief Minister and his NC. If the Congress really wishes to take on the aggressive BJP and jeep its constituency intact, it has no other option but adopt an approach that suits the Jammu's psyche and sentiment and that caters to the basic political and economic needs of its people. Any failure on the Congress leadership to do so would further erode its support-base in Jammu province and beneficiary would obviously be the BJP, notwithstanding its several acts of omission and commission, including its role in the assembly during the 2002 session when the NC Government banned delimitation of assembly constituencies till 2026. The BJP legislators, like the Congress legislators, had voted for the amendment. |
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