news details |
|
|
| Before Durbar move, in November & now no time limit | | AFSPA A Dead Issue | | Neha
JAMMU, Nov 22: Has Chief Minister Omar Abdullah finally accepted defeat? Has he finally raised his hands? Has he finally realized that he committed one of the greatest political blunders by demanding something that just could not be conceded? Has the Chief Minister finally accepted the fact that he just cannot take New Delhi for a ride? Has he finally decided to put at stake whatever credibility he still had for the sake of personal power? These are some of the questions the people and political observers have started asking in the wake of the Chief Minister's shifting stand on AFSPA. They have also started asking: Will Omar Abdullah be able to retrieve the situation and restore the lost credibility? Besides, they have started questioning his very "moral and political authority to continue to cling to the office", which, according to the PDP and others, "whose authority he himself undermined by his reckless actions and by raking up issues concerning national security without taking into confidence all the stakeholders"?
All these questions speak for themselves and indicate the nature of difficult and peculiar situation the Chief Minister landed himself in by insisting on revocation of AFSPA from certain areas of the state. Indeed, the Chief Minister has created a situation he is finding it extremely difficult to handle. He says one thing one day to create an impression that he is the boss and that he can achieve what his predecessors have failed to achieve. He reiterates his stand the second day after not being able to achieve what he said he would accomplish before a particular date. He would take a stand and reiterate in order to win back a particular constituency and extend his area of influence. He will take a complete U-turn the third day recognizing that he had sought to achieve the unachievable - a climb down which would enable his opponents to attack him from right and left and question his very credibility, character and credentials.
The Chief Minister exactly did the same and paying a very heavy price with the opposition dismissing him as just incompetent and demanding his head. Take, for instance, his shifting stance on AFSPA. On October 21, he announced with much fanfare that he would remove AFSPA from certain areas before Durbar move. His announcement was coupled with an emphatic assertion. But it did not happen. The Army and the JKPCC put their foot down. He overlooked his failure and reiterated his position on the issue declaring that he would withdraw AFSPA in November after discussing the issue in cabinet meeting and meeting of the Unified Headquarters. He reiterated his position on the issue without taking anybody on board and the result was as it was. The Army again put its foot down on November 9, the day the members of the Unified Headquarters met in Jammu under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister presides over the UHQ meetings. The JKPCC did not support him. Even a couple of cabinet ministers belonging to the Congress took on him in the cabinet meeting.
Yesterday, the Chief Minister declared that he would not set any deadline; that he did what the people wanted; and that right now his government is busy in addressing the concerns as expressed by the Army from time to time. In between, he moved heaven and earth to push forward his agenda, but with no result. Everyone whom he met in New Delhi listened to him and rejected his suggestion. His yesterday's statement that he sticks to his stand but he could not set the deadline as he has to address the concerns of the Army needs to be viewed in the light of the cold and negative response his controversial suggestion evoked from New Delhi which matters. That the Chief Minister who had on November 9-10 declared that he would not listen to "no" from the Army would yesterday publicly announce that his government would address the concerns of the Army must put things in perspective.
Indeed, the chief Minister has mishandled the issue and become an object of severe criticism. Almost everyone in the state, including his own crest-fallen, dejected, humbled and demoted uncle Mustafa Kamaal, is censuring him and demanding his head. He himself is responsible. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
