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| JKPCC lodges complaint against NC demands regional council for Jammu | | Meeting With HM | | STARK REALITY
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 4: The position of the Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir is precarious. It is helpless. It shares powers with the NC, which cannot rule the state even for a day without the support of the former, but it doesn’t have the ability and capacity to apply brakes on the latter, which is willfully and systematically destroying its alliance partner and has practically rendered the Congress party weak and ineffective. The fact of the matter is that the Congress is at the mercy of the NC and its only role is to endorse without murmur whatever decision the NC takes and decides to implement. The plight of the Congress is indeed very miserable. It’s really strange.
That the Congress has been rendered ineffective and unreal for all practical purposes once again became evident when the JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz, who enjoys the confidence of most of the JKPCC office-bearers, on Thursday narrated before the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram the woeful tale of his party. He told the Home Minister that there is “lack of coordination within the coalition wherein Congress interests are relegated to the backburner many a time.” He told the visiting Home Minister that it has become imperative to restructure or amend the state constitution in order to federalize it. He called it federal structure. He cautioned the Home Minister, saying the “Congress leadership must remain on guard given the past experiences vis-a-vis its ties with the National Conference.” He lodged a strong complaint against the NC and told the Home Minister that the Congress is giving unstinted cooperation to the NC so that the coalition government functions smoothly. In fact, he told that while the Congress is following the cardinal principles of coalition dharma, the NC is not, the NC is flouting them and disgracing the Congress.
The story of the Congress woes did not end here. Some leaders accused the NC-led coalition government of which the Congress is the most crucial part of not treating the Congress ministers equally with those of the NC ministers as far as the grant of additionalities is concerned. They also accused the NC-led government of ignoring the Congress workers and ignoring the party itself while taking decisions of certain crucial issues.
The meeting between Soz and his men and the Home Minister not only turned out to be a meeting of complaints against the NC, but it also brought to the fore the contradictions between the political perceptions of the Kashmiri leaders and those belonging to Jammu province. Insiders revealed that the Home Minister was told in clear terms that while they are opposed to the demands ranging from autonomy or pre-1953 position to self-rule, they are for regional autonomy, regional councils, district councils and block councils. They told the Home Minister that the people of Jammu province believe that they have not been treated fairly by the state government and that the policies being pursued by the government are discriminatory.
All this indicates two things. Leave aside the fact that the Congress leaders on Thursday again failed to present a united face and demonstrated that the possibility of unity between the two factions is too remote. (Remember, the Congress leaders and workers created a sort of tamasha at the State Guest House.) One, the official Congress is not happy with the working of the NC-led government. It believes that, if not checked and reined in, the NC would destroy the Congress party in the state. Two, the Congress is mortally afraid of the BJP and the Panthers Party because both these parties have of late become quite aggressive and vocal. The Congress leadership, which controls the party, has finally come to believe that if their organization is to survive in Jammu province, it has no other option but to speak the BJP language, rake up the discrimination issue and work for the federalization of the state polity. But it is extremely doubtful if the Congress would ever be in a position to counter the BJP or the JKNPP considering the negative attitude of the Congress high command towards its own party in the state or considering the fact that Rahul & Co are solidly behind Omar Abdullah. The attitude of Ghulam Nabi Azad is no different.
As for the Home Minister’s response, he, among other things, told the local leaders that Kashmir needs a unique solution; that the state has to remain one political unit; that the Congress leadership in the state must prepare a document on what they believe could be the solution to the problem and the Congress ministers must assert during the Cabinet meetings and speak in one voice. He did say that aspirations of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh would be taken into consideration while working out a solution. But he made it amply clear that he is far a unique solution. What that unique solution would be, only he knows. But one thing can be said: The solution would be Kashmir-centric. The Congress party must assert and counter the unique solution formulation if it is to remain relevant here in Jammu province. The Congress leadership will have to refashion its line of action. In other words, it has to assert and tell the party high command that its policy is utterly unacceptable.
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