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| Omar has squandered the God-sent opportunity | | State Of Anarchy | | Rustam
JAMMU, Oct 2 : Omar Abdullah became Chief Minister on January 5, 2009, notwithstanding the fact that the NC had captured a paltry 28 seats in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. AICC president Sonia Gandhi handed over the state power to him in what she called "national interest". It was a God-sent opportunity for Omar Abdullah in the sense that he was a green-horn in politics, notwithstanding the fact that he had served the BJP-led NDA Government in various capacities, including as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, for some years. Sonia Gandhi had reposed her faith in Omar Abdullah knowing it full well that the latter had created for himself hatred in Jammu and elsewhere in the country by his July 2008 Lok Sabha statement that "land (Baltal land) belongs to Kashmiris and we will not give an inch of land" (to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board). In fact, she handed over the state power to Omar Abdullah at a time when tempers were running high and the bulk of the local Congress leadership rabidly opposed to the idea of Omar Abdullah occupying the highest executive office in the sensitive, strategic and militant-infested state.
It was then hoped that Omar Abdullah would make optimum use of the opportunity given to him by Sonia Gandhi and focus his attention on issues of governance in order to mitigate the hardships of the people and keep the common Kashmiri aloof from separatism. It was also then hoped that he would discard the out-moded policies and devise and implement policies calculated to isolate the regressive forces in Kashmir and harmonize inter-regional relations. Besides, it was also hoped that the young Omar Abdullah, who had been trained in secular environment, would give a new orientation to the state government and convert Jammu and Kashmir into a welfare state, with the people of all the three regions working in unison for the state's all round development.
Unfortunately, however, nothing of this sort has happened. He has, undoubtedly, squandered the opportunity and landed himself and the state in a difficult situation, with the regressive forces taking advantage of the situation and spoiling the Indian pitch in the Valley, common people finding themselves in a state of despondency and helplessness and the inter-regional animosities assuming alarming proportions. There is hardly any section which commends Omar Abdullah and his style of functioning. Leave aside a small coterie, well-entrenched bureaucracy which always tries to maintain status quo and top politicians whosoever they are.
What has contributed to the mess in the state and made his own position quite untenable is the inability of Omar Abdullah to deliver. In fact, he has, it appears, never ever tried to hand down to the people a reformed administration - administration that is transparent, accountable, responsive, prompt, people-centric, and last but not the least, corruption free. The manner in which the state administration, under his leadership, has conducted itself has in no way increased the people's confidence in him. On the contrary, an impression has gone down that he is not really "competent" to handle the sensitive state and deliver.
Omar Abdullah should not blame anybody if such an impression has gained ground across the state, including even the constituencies the NC represents in the state legislature. He should blame himself and those under whose guidance and influence he has conducted himself thus far. It would be reasonable to say that Omar Abdullah, instead of focusing on matters of governance and development, has only focused on emotive and divisive issues and the result is what the state is witnessing today. It's all anarchy.
It is not necessary to catalogue here instances which serve to prove this point. Suffice it to say that he has wasted most of his time in raking up issues ranging from demilitarization to withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act to Indo-Pak relations to the status of the state within India to greater autonomy to general amnesty to Afzal Guru to the alleged human rights violation and to several other similar non-issues. It is no wonder then that the discerning people have accused him of indulging in what they call "competitive communalism" and "competitive separatism".
It is time for Omar Abdullah to sit up, retrospect and find where he has faltered. Such an exercise on his part has become absolutely imperative - imperative all the more because there is a view that he has made his position "untenable because of reckless decisions and actions", failed the state and created additional difficulties for the nation in the already restive Kashmir Valley. He has to remember that the politics of competitive communalism and competitive secessionism will not pay. It would only add to his woes. He knows it full well.
The best thing for him to do would be not to walk into the trap of the PDP which is not only demanding his resignation and his father's resignation as well as the resignation of Minister of State for Home Affairs but also lowering his position in the eyes of the people of Kashmir by telling them that "he (Omar Abdullah) had tendered an apology to Pakistan in Pakistan for the follies his grandfather (Sheikh Abdullah) committed". |
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