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| Congress ministers Congressmen only in name | | Political Arrangement Mind-boggling | | Rustam
Jammu, Feb 10: Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing strange political arrangements since November 2, 2002, when the Congress party after nearly 27 years captured 20 assembly seats. Ever since than, the Congress ministers and the Congress party are pulling in different directions. The Congress ministers, who say they are pledged Congressmen, have been actually serving the cause of the Kashmir-based parties like the National Conference (NC) and endorsing each and every move of theirs' at the cost of their own party and their respective constituencies. This is not an exaggeration; this is a stark reality.
Take, for example, what the Congress ministers did between November 2002 and November 2005. They very willingly and cheerfully became party to the two most controversial moves - the introduction in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly of the anti-daughters' permanent Resident Disqualification Bill and introduction of a bill on "healing touch policy". Both the bills created a furore in Jammu province and New Delhi, with the Congress party facing the people's ire for the follies committed by the Congress ministers.
Not only this, the Congress ministers also became a party to the decision that led to a fierce controversy over the Baltal land issue as well as duration of Amarnath Yatra - issue that brought the state government and the state governor face to face with each other, with the Jammu-based Congress leaders and workers cursing their own ministers and rushing to New Delhi for seeking the intervention of the Union Government and Congress high command. The controversy made the Congress party quite unpopular in Jammu. The people of Jammu were up in arms against the state government and their charge against it was that it had outraged their religious sensitivities.
The Congress ministers also did not behave differently when the Congress party led the government in the state between November 2005 and July 7, 2008, when the government fell. The Congress ministers, including the Congress Chief Minister, conducted themselves in a fashion that led the people of Jammu province believe that the Congress ministers represented only Kashmir and Kashmiri sentiments and that they had nothing to do with Jammu province and the sensitivities of the people of this province. The Congress ministers, without any exception, violated the High Court's clear directions and withdrew the order under which a small piece of land at Baltal (Kashmir) had been diverted to the Amarnath Shrine Board on temporary basis for the creation of some additional facilities for the pilgrims. The order was withdrawn to please the Kashmiri leadership and religious bigots of all varieties. The bulk of the Congress leadership, especially the one which belonged to Jammu, felt aghast and protested, of course, timidly. Some of them even went to New Delhi to meet their bosses so that the issue could be resolved at the earliest and the Congress saved from the impending disaster. Besides, the Congress ministers created in Kashmir 4 new districts, as against one recommended by the Wazir Commission in 1983. They did it much to the chagrin of the people of Jammu province and the Jammu-based Congress leadership and workers. The Congress ministers did it all just to please the Kashmiri leadership and Kashmiri people.
The role of the Congress ministers in the NC-Congress coalition government is no different. Rather, the Congress ministers have turned out and out pro-NC. They have been behaving in a manner that has made it extremely difficult for the people to distinguish between the NC ministers and the Congress ministers. The fact of the matter is that all the Congress ministers, without any exception, are at the back and call of the ruling NC. You may put in any amount of efforts to find if the Congress ministers have held their own even once during all these more than three years and you will come out of the exercise minus everything.
On the contrary, you would find the NC and the Congress ministers working in tandem; there is a perfect understanding and coordination between the two. Rather, you would find the Congress ministers, particularly those belonging to Jammu showering all kinds of praises on the Chief Minister and describing him as the most effective, wise and impartial administrator - an attitude that has disturbed and alarmed the Congress party, especially its Jammu wing. The situation has climaxed to the point that the Congress ministers do not even care for the JKPCC president who wants this government to empower the Panchayats by adopting 73rd and 74th amendments.
What does all this suggest? It suggests that the Congress ministers are Congressmen just in name, that they are only committed to the NC and what it proposes, and that they have nothing to do with the Congress party. Is it not a very strange political arrangement? The Congress party needs to assert its position and authority and make its ministers behave keeping in mind the long-term interests of the party. |
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