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| Omar's crusade against AFSPA: Gains & Losses | | | Rustam
Jammu, Nov 18: As mentioned, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's crusade against AFSPA has boomeranged. Instead of making gains, he has only incurred heavy losses. He wanted to address a particular constituency in Kashmir by telling it that he had achieved what he announced unilaterally on October 21, but miserably failed. As a result, the constituency he wanted to cultivate has become his bitter critic. It has come to believe that the chief Minister was never committed to achieving what he had solemnly promised and that his attempt was basically aimed at deflecting the people's attention away from his own acts of omission and commission and failures. The APHC (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has criticized the Chief Minister and dismissed him as the New Delhi's agent. Tehrik-e-Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti have also expressed identical views and virtually dismissed the Chief Minister as rank opportunist and power-hungry. The general opinion across the Kashmir Valley is no different. The fact is that that he has dented his image and weakened his position and lowered the dignity of the office he got on a platter in January 2009. He has, in addition, given an issue to the PDP on a platter. The PDP would surely use this issue against the Chief Minister and the NC and try its level best to snatch their political space.
The Chief Minister wanted to convey an impression that he was the boss, the sole factor in the state's political situation and the chief determinant but the manner in which developments took place in the state as well as New Delhi after October 21 established that he had over-estimated himself and that he had not done any homework. None took him seriously. He was rebuffed by the Army and he was told by New Delhi not to cross the line. Paradoxically, even the Union Home Minister did not come to his rescue. Instead of siding with the Chief Minister, the Home Minister, a staunch supporter of AFSPA revocation, sided with the JKPCC president, who had publicly rebuked the Chief Minister saying he didn't consult him and the party. Even the otherwise sophisticated Defence Minister ridiculed and snubbed the Chief Minister saying the latter had acted in an immature manner. The fact is that he lost the New Delhi's goodwill. Indeed, the gulf between New Delhi and the Chief Minister and between the latter and the Army has further widened.
The Chief Minister had given everyone to understand that he would complete full term of six years because he enjoyed the confidence of the Congress high command but the manner in which he dealt with the local Congress leaders, especially the JKPCC president, has created a situation that could culminate in his removal. The nature of relations between the two coalition partners could be determined from the fact that almost all the local Congress leaders have warned the Chief Minister to behave properly and not take the Congress for a ride.
There is a clear indication that the bitterness between the NC and the Congress has assumed dangerous proportions and that the coalition was on the verge of collapse. The relations between them continue to be sour and bitter. This was the message from the just-held Congress meet at Surinsar: "Don't test our patience". It was none other than the close lieutenant of the JKPCC president who had said so and that, too, in the presence of the party chief. There is the possibility of the Congress snapping its ties with the NC. The local leadership wants it. In fact, it is working for it.
The Chief Minister and the NC suffered a massive political loss in Jammu province where an overwhelming majority of the people had not taken kindly to the Chief Minister's move on the AFSPA. The NC was never very popular in this province because its brand of politics never fitted in the Jammu province's political scheme of things. It had a few pockets where the NC did have some say not because it was popular but because of some local factors and local leaders. The Chief Minister's handling of the AFSPA issue has destroyed whatever little support-base the NC had in this province where people eulogize Army and fight for the national cause and empowerment.
The Chief Minister's crusade against AFSPA has, in addition, adversely impacted the state's administrative apparatus for obvious reasons. The result is that the people have turned against him and the government that he leads.
The truth, in short, is that the Chief Minister has lost everything he possessed till the other day. He has lost his credibility; he has lost the people's confidence; he has lost the New Delhi's goodwill; he has lost the army's goodwill; he has lost his ally; and he has even lost his uncle whom he calls "my father's brother". It would not be an exaggeration if someone may says so that the chief Minister is sitting on the ruins of the NC. |
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