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| Equitable development of all regions, NC-Congress style | | Joke Of The Year | | Neha
JAMMU, Sept 12: J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will not tweet for at least six days because he would spend this week in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh. He reached Dras (Kargil) yesterday. Addressing a public gathering at Dras yesterday, the Chief Minister made a statement that has been described by many in Jammu as "joke of the year". The Chief Minister had said, "his government is striving for equitable development of all regions of the state and the amelioration of general public is the most important part of the development policy". "Our government is determined for equitable development of all regions of the state. We have focused specifically on the holistic progress of far-flung and remote areas," the Chief Minister, in fact, said.
This correspondent today interacted with cross-sections of society to know what they thought about what the Chief Minister said. The response was identical. Not a single person with whom this correspondent interacted appreciated the Chief Minister's statement. On the contrary, everyone pooh-poohed the Chief Minister's claim and accused the NC-Congress coalition government of "perpetrating injustice after injustice on the people of this province".
The interaction with the people whom this correspondent met indicated the level of awareness among them. Each one of them depicted the socio-economic and political status of Jammu in the state polity and pointed out that the "people of this province have been suffering immense political, social and economic losses at the hands of the successive Kashmiri-dominated and Valley-centric governments in the state" and that the "present dispensation has turned out to be a curse for them as it has been treating the province and its people more shabbily as compared to the earlier dispensation". Significantly, they adjudged the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led coalition government as "somewhat fair". More significantly, they told this correspondent that the "Mufti was more amenable" and that the "Jammu-based Congress ministers during that period used to assert and made the Mufti yield several times". One may or may not fully endorse their assessment, but, then, it was their view and they have the right to take a position.
However, when it came to the NC-Congress coalition government the people with whom this correspondent interacted suddenly lost their cool. Their attack on the Chief Minister and his NC and the Jammu-based Congress ministers, without any exception, was scathing and unsparing. They used all kinds of negative words against the government and dismissed it as a government that is "not only on a looting spree, but as the one that has caused irreparable damage to the Jammu province and its people". To make their point they referred to the Jammu's "inadequate representation in the assembly, little share in the crucial service sector, inadequate representation in the state's technical and professional institutions, inadequate funds for the developmental activities in the province, lack of means of communication, poor road connectivity, inadequate power generation in the region" and so on. They quoted some official figures to prove that "it is Kashmir that has been dominating all the aspects of the political, economic and social life" and that the "life of the people of Jammu province is not one of political, economic and social aspirations".
One simply cannot disagree with them as what they told this correspondent was not based on heresy; it was based on hard facts. The Chief Minister needs to issue a comprehensive white paper containing information on the share of Kashmir in all spheres vis-a-vis the share of Jammu province in the same. Such an exercise would help clinch the whole issue and establish who is right and who is wrong. Will the Chief Minister muster courage and present an accurate picture of facts. |
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