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| Taj, Vakil join hands against Fotedar | | Defending The Indefensible | | Neha
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 16: Cabinet Minister Taj Mhi-uddin and for Cabinet Minister and senior Congress leader Abdul Ghani Vakil have not taken kindly to what former Union Minister ML Fotedar said on June 13 about accession and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the government he headed in the state between November 5, 2002 and November 4, 2005. While Taj has dissociated himself from the views expressed by Fotedar, saying whatever the latter said were "his personal views", Vakil, on the other hand, has bemoaned the Fotedar's remarks against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Vakil has, in addition, disapproved of his views on Mufti Sayeed and said it would have been better had he praised Ghulam Nabi Azad who, according to Vakil, performed well. In other words, he sought to please both Azad and Omar. Taj, everyone knows, is one Congress leader who has on occasions more than one publicly stated that there would be no rotational chief minister-ship and that Omar Abdullah would rule the state for a full term of six years. As for their views on the so-called Kashmir issue, less said the better.
The stand taken by Taj and Vakil is not consistent with the views of most of the Congressmen in the state who would want the Congress high command to show Omar Abdullah the doors after he completes three years in office on January 4, 2012. In fact, a number of Kashmir-based senior Congress leaders, most of the office-bearers, had on June 13 candidly told Dr Karan Singh and JKPCC president Saif-ud-Din Soz that they were fed up with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and that what they wanted was the implementation of the 2002 power-sharing agreement reached between the Congress high command and other parties, including the PDP, the JKNPP and the CPI-M. They also told Singh and Soz that the continuation of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister for full term would jeopardize the interests of the Congress party in the state - view that was shared by Karan Singh without mincing words.
The stand taken by Taj and Vakil appears quite astounding considering the fact that they belong to two different camps, one led by Soz and the other by Azad. It is also significant to note that Taj has good relations with Omar Abdullah. The reasons are obvious. He perhaps believes that change of guards as suggested by several senior Congress leaders would work against his personal interests. Whatever the reason the stand of Taj and Vakil has clearly suggested that the Congress is divided not into two groups but into several groups with each one of them working at cross-purposes in order to further its own interests, thus further weakening the party and demoralizing the Congress workers and cadres at a time when the Congress leadership should have spoken in one voice and demanded the implementation of the 2002 power-sharing formula.
That they have not done so and that they have been speaking in different voices only prove that they are interested more in the promotion of their own personal interests and agendas and that the party interests are secondary. And, it's this party politics within the Congress that is directly helping the NC and Omar Abdullah. The need of the time was to make common cause with Fotedar and Karan Singh and take on those questioning the state's accession with India but, mercifully, the Kashmir-based Congress leaders have thought otherwise. As far as the Jammu-based Congress leaders are concerned, they continue to keep their mouth shut. Why? It's a riddle.
All in all Taj and Vakil are defending the indefensible. This is bad politics. Their politics might suit them but not the party. |
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