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| Going against the popular demand | | Rotational CM | | Rustam
JAMMU, Oct 18: The demand for removing Omar Abdullah from the position he holds in the government is gaining momentum by the day. There is consensus among the local Congress leaders and workers, barring those in the Omar Abdullah government, that Omar Abdullah and his government have failed to deliver and consistently ignored them and that they want Omar Abdullah to be replaced by some Congressman after the former completes three years as Chief Minister. To be more precise, they have lost their confidence in the leadership of Omar Abdullah and come to believe that his continuation as Chief Minister even for a day after he completes three years in office would adversely impact the poll prospectus of the Congress party across the state. Such is the attitude of the local Congress leaders and workers towards Omar Abdullah and the NC.
The Congress veteran and former Deputy Chief Mangat Ram Sharma was the first person in the party to put forth the demand for rotational Chief Minister. He raised the issue at least four times last year and that, too, in the presence of JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz. He was candid. He demanded rotational Chief Minister at Hiranagar, Samba, Bani and Jammu. Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma also followed in his footsteps and not only supported the view but also suggested trifurcation of the state. He took this stand at Bani. He was highly critical of the Kashmiri leadership and those demanding autonomy and self-rule for the state. He even condemned the Kashmiri leadership saying the latter had consistently denied Jammu its legitimate due share in the state's political and economic processes. His brother and MP Madan Lal Sharma swung solidly behind his brother when certain Congress leaders from the state and the NC think-tanks denounced Sham Lal Sharma for his suggestion and demanded against him stringent action. All this happened last year.
The year 2011 witnesses the grass root level Congress workers raising the pitch and demanding revival of the 2002 power-sharing formula between the Congress and the PDP. They raised the demand when two senior Congress leaders Makhan Lal Fotedar and Karan Singh visited Kashmir last summer. The upshot of their whole argument was that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his ministers were "arrogant", "inaccessible" and "unaccommodating" and that the administration Omar Abdullah had handed down was "corrupt", "inefficient", "vindictive" and "anti-people". The Congress veterans assured the local Congress leaders and workers that they would convey their feelings to the Congress high command. Karan Singh even went to the extent of saying that he not only shared the local sentiment but he himself believed that the status quo would work against the Congress party in the state.
The Congress leaders and workers, plus panches and sarpanches, expressed the same view during their meetings with AICC general secretary and Omar Abdullah's friend Rahul Gandhi in Srinagar as well as Jammu. In Kashmir, the Kashmir-based Congress workers demanded end of the Omar Abdullah's rule or misrule or anarchy, whatever one may call it, and in Jammu, the Jammu-based Congress workers put forth the same demand advancing identical view: Omar Abdullah and his NC had damaged the Congress party in the state; he must go lock, stock and barrel after he completes three years in office. All this happened some 20 days ago. Rahul Gandhi's response, unlike the responses of Fotedar and Karan Singh, was disappointing. He only said "it is for the high command to take decision".
Notwithstanding the negative response of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leaders and workers again took up this issue during their meeting with Union Health Minister and former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at Srinagar yesterday at Nehru Guest House. They reportedly argue that the "post of Chief Minister should be given to the Congress candidate for the next three years as was done in the case of their party's alliance with the People's Democratic Party from 2002 to 2008" and that the "party workers are being ignored and rotational Chief Minister is must for Congress". Significantly, Congress minister R S Chib and Sham Lal Sharma, who belong to the other camp, were also there when Kashmiri Congress leaders and workers urged Ghulam Nabi Azad to ensure the end of NC rule by the end of this year. Azad reportedly "avoided the answer" and, instead, told them to strengthen Congress at gross roots level". That he didn't say yes or no was in a way an indication that the issue of rotational Chief Minister continues is very much alive.
The moral of the story is that the local Congress leaders and workers are against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah; they want him to go. This is the popular sentiment. The Congress high command would do well to respect this sentiment. Going against the popular sentiment just because Rahul Gandhi is Omar Abdullah's friend would be only to dig the party's grave in the state. The Congress high command would also do well to recognize that the present dispensation in the state of the unpopular NC, by the unpopular NC and for the unpopular NC and that the NC has rendered the Congress party in the state unreal and ineffective for all practical purposes. |
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