news details |
|
|
| JKPCC in fighting mode, says NC must behave or else | | Message From Surinsar -- I | | Neha
JAMMU, Nov 14: The Congress party yesterday held a rally at Surinsar, Jammu. It was dominated by the supporters of JKPCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz in the sense that none of the supporters of union health minister and former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was conspicuous by his presence. The composition of the rally once again established that the Congress is not a cohesive unit and that it is vertically divided at least in two main groups. It is not good for the health of the Congress party. Jammu and Kashmir is a sensitive border state and it needs a political formation that is capable of fighting separatism and communalism and that follows state-centric, as opposed to region-centric, policies taking into consideration the fact that the state consists of three distinct geo-political regions housing people having different and mutually exclusive aspirations.
Prof Soz did acknowledge this fact while addressing the rally. He said the Congress alone could keep the state united and intact. His message was loud and clear: His message was that the parties like the NC and the PDP, which have their support-base confined to the Kashmir Valley and which are basically Kashmir-centric, just cannot maintain the unity and integrity of the state. It is a different story that Prof Soz named only the BJP, and not the NC and the PDP, in this regard. It was understandable. After all, in Jammu province's at least 23 constituencies BJP is the Congress' main rival. Jammu province is the core constituency of both the Congress and the BJP. However, it would have better had he once again exposed the NC saying the NC indulges in "sectarian politics and mere sloganeering".
It is also a different story that the Congress didn't suggest any roadmap that could help it maintain the unity and integrity of India. It was an occasion for the Congress to look back, revisit its election manifesto 2008 and tell the government in unambiguous terms that it must amend the state constitution in order to federalize the state polity and establish adequately empowered regional councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. It was also an appropriate occasion for the Congress to reassure the people of Jammu province that it would see to it that the state government re-amends the representation of people's act in order to enable the concerned authorities to constitute a delimitation commission to redraw the assembly constituencies so that Jammu province gets its due share of representation in the assembly.
Paradoxically, the Congress did nothing of the sort and indulged in mere rhetoric overlooking the fact that the marginalized and ignored people of Jammu province are longer prepared to give any credence to mere sloganeering or lip-service. It's all right for a political party to take on its rivals and say that they indulge in "divisive and communal politics". The state Congress precisely did the same. It presented itself before the gathering as a party that believes in "secularism" and that gives "equal respect to all sections of society irrespective of caste, creed and region". But what it said really meant nothing for the people of Jammu province who want some concrete action on the ground. Song of secularism and equal respect cannot meet the needs, urges and compulsions of the people of Jammu province. They have been listening to this monotonous and irritating song since 1947. The fact is that they are fed up with the kind of politics the political parties in the state have been playing with them. Indeed, the Congress lost the invaluable opportunity Surinsar had provided.
The failure of the Congress to project the case of Jammu, as also its failure to reassure the people that the state government of which the Congress is the most crucial constituent would take cognizance of what was promised by the Congress on the eve of elections and during the election campaign and give full effect to those promises was one of the messages from Surinsar. The message was not inspiring; it was disappointing. (To be continued) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
