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| Cong still unclear, PDP vocal, NC playing its canny cards | | Bill On Guru | | Rustam
JAMMU, Sept 24: The D-day is Wednesday. Independent MLA Engineer Rashid's outrageous private member's bill seeking mercy for Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack case, will come up for discussion in the assembly that day. The discussion on the bill and what ultimately happens to it will determine many things. One, the adoption of the bill will expose the Congress party and mar its electoral prospects at the national level. The Congress and the UPA are already under severe criticism with the entire nation dismissing them as most the corrupt and praying for their burial. The adoption of the bill on Guru would - apart from destroying the Congress in Jammu province and harming the Congress and the across the nation - would create an impression in the country that they have compromised the Indian stand on Jammu and Kashmir and, hence, the nation is not safe in their hand. In other words, the adoption of the bill on Guru would further lower their position in the eyes of the nation, which is already painting it black, insensitive, irresponsible, dictatorial, arrogant, and undesirable.
The Congress with whose support the NC is in power in the state should have by now made its stand on the bill clear. But it is still not clear. It has only added to the prevailing confusion. It has four options: support the bill, oppose the bill, abstain from voting if the bill actually comes up for discussion and withdrawal of support to the government before the D-day. And, there are reasons to believe that the bill would certainly be discussed, as the PDP and the NC are determined to take political mileage out of it and establish that they could go to any extent to identify themselves with the likes of Syed Ali Shah Gelani and others of his ilk and the regressive and the anti-India they profess and advocate. They want to let down each other.
The PDP has already made its stand public. It stated yesterday that it would vote for the bill. The NC has not yet opened its cards. But the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government has informed the media that the NC's decision would be in consistent with the people's view (read view of those demanding clemency). Besides, one of its MPs has extended his unstinted support to the bill. In other words, they have hinted at what the canny NC would do on the D-day. Since the NC can't afford to give an opportunity to the PDP to further erode its support-base in the Valley, it is this that would shape and mould the political attitude of this ruling party towards the bill. Its position is quite precarious in the sense that there are reports to the effect that certain elements are trying to persuade men at the helm in the state not to bring the bill under discussion and their argument is that such an approach alone could help the ruling coalition complete the remaining term in office. But there is a catch in it: No discussion on the bill will provide a god-sent opportunity to the PDP to expose and beat the NC and further expand its support-base in Kashmir. The NC leadership knows it and, hence, one can say that it would ensure discussion on the bill and voting on it. Both the PDP and the NC are playing petty politics over the issue and the NC can even think in terms of renouncing power taking into account its long-term interests.
It is the Congress that is in a very difficult situation. If it votes for the bill, it would lose its face across the nation and beneficiary would obviously be the BJP, which has all along aroused popular passions by raking up emotive issues. If the Congress votes against the bill, it will make the position of the coalition untenable with people raising questions about its credibility. It would then be described as the most unethical coalition the country has ever seen. And, if the Congress finally decides to abstain from voting, it would not help the party in any manner. Abstaining means support for the bill. In other words, the Congress would be the main loser. Why not? Those who remain ambivalent even when the issue is of national import have no place in the country's political arena. Hence, the only way the Congress can retrieve the situation is the withdrawal of the support to the NC-led government. But it extremely unlikely that the desperate Congress would exercise the fourth option considering its insatiable lust for power and pelf and considering its socio-political credentials, which are questionable by yardstick. |
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