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| Jammu in advantageous position, Congress playing dubious role | | Fractured Kashmir -- I | | Neha
JAMMU, Feb 13: There was a time when the Kashmir-based party, NC, used to capture almost all the seats in the Valley and dominate the state legislature, highest law-making body, and civil secretariat, seat of the government. The NC between 1951 and 1965, the Congress between 1965 and 1975 and again the NC between 1977 and 1990 and in 1996 captured almost all the seats in Kashmir and the result was that the Valley dominated the state polity and perpetrated injustice after injustice on Jammu, thus reducing it to a nullity for all practical purposes. Kashmir used to return more members to the assembly as compared to Jammu, despite the fact that Jammu was far more superior to Kashmir both in terms of land area and voters. The situation remains the same even today. It was, and continues to, New Delhi which always stood, and continues to stand, by the patently anti-Jammu Kashmiri leadership. New Delhi has contempt and hatred for Jammu because it hates the political perceptions and ideology of Kashmiri leadership, as also because Jammu stands for the mainstream and liberal politics.
Kashmiri domination over the assembly and civil secretariat and the New Delhi's unstinted and unqualified support to the irrational, vindictive and out-and-out Valley-centric Kashmiri leadership helped Kashmir to establish its stranglehold over all the politico-administrative and economic institutions, of course, much to chagrin of the people of Jammu province who contributed, and continue to contribute, more revenue to the state exchequer. Another additional factor that worked to the advantage of the Valley was the domination of Kashmiri leadership over the major parties, including the NC and the Congress. The situation remains the same even today. In fact, all the political parties, including the NC, the PDP, the Congress, the CPI and the CPI-M, are controlled by the Kashmiri leaders. It is not a secret.
Notwithstanding the domination of Kashmiri leaders over most of the major political parties, regional or otherwise, the things for Kashmir changed drastically in 2002. Kashmir for the first time gave a fractured verdict. The NC lost its old status. It was rejected across the state, although it captured 28 seats out of 87 across the state. In 1996, the NC had captured more than 66 per cent seats. The PDP captured 20 seats in 2002, all in the Kashmir Valley. The NC accepted its defeat and decided to sit in the opposition benches. It did not even try to enter into an alliance with the Congress, third largest group in the assembly. It was the PDP and the Congress which entered into a post-poll pact to form coalition government in the state. The Panthers Party, the People's Democratic Forum, a conglomerate of half a dozen independent legislators, and CPI-M were also part of this coalition. The first two formations joined the coalition government, headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The CPI-M, which had two MLAs, supported the coalition government from outside.
Thus, an era of coalition politics started in Jammu and Kashmir, with the balance of power in the hands of Jammu. The 2008 assembly elections also produced a fractured verdict: The NC failed to improve its position; its number remained static (28); the PDP improved its tally by two seats, one each from Poonch and Rajouri districts; the strength of the Congress was reduced by three seats. The Congress could win only 13 seats in Jammu, as against 15 it had won in 2002, and three seats in Kashmir, as against four it had captured in 2002. The NC, which had remained out of the government between 2002 and 2008, decided otherwise. Power-hungry as its leadership was, it entered into an alliance with the Congress. The PDP never wanted this kind of arrangement for political reasons. It did offer outside support to the Congress, but failed to carry conviction with the Congress high command. Several factors played their role. One of the major factors was the rise of Sachin Pilot, son-in-law of Farooq Abdullah, on the Indian political horizon. (To be concluded) |
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