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| Kamaal again castigates Soz, opposes 73rd amendment | | Cong-NC Relations | | Neha
JAMMU, Apr 23: JKPCC president Saif-ud-Din Soz on Sunday asked the elected Panchs and Sarpanchs to start a campaign against the State Government in order to force it to "implement the 73rd Constitutional amendment in the State". In other words, he urged the Panchs and Sarpanchs to take on and expose the Government of which the Congress is the most crucial partner. The elected Government is in place in the State because the Congress is one of the two coalition partners. The other is the NC, which is leading the coalition Government since January 2009. The NC has only 28 members in the 87-member House.
What Soz did was something very extraordinary. It was an extraordinary development in the sense that the party which was sharing power with another political party sought to provoke the Panches and Sarpanchs against their own Government. It all happened at Rajouri where Soz, among others, addressed a gathering of people organized by the elected Panches and Sarpanchs. Soz was so angry with the NC and the NC-led Government that he openly, unambiguously and without mincing words accused the NC of rendering the Panchayats and elected panches and Sarpanchs ineffective and unreal for all practical purposes.
"The NC is the only hurdle in the empowerment of Panchayats. The process for empowerment of the people through Panchayati Raj system has been left midway. We want the elected Panchs and Sarpanchs to be fully empowered but the NC is not ready to implement the 73rd Constitutional amendment in the State. All the claims being made by the State Government regarding empowerment of the local bodies are not true and we seriously believe that the process is incomplete without the powers. It is time for the Panchayat members to start a campaign in the State and his party will support the movement if it is launched in Jammu and Kashmir. I will personally ensure that the Union Minister of Panchayati Raj is invited to the State and we will fight with you (Sarpanchs and Panchs) for your empowerment," he said. And, what he said once again demonstrated that all is not well with the coalition and that both the coalition partners are pulling in different directions.
As expected, the NC, instead of respecting the sentiments of the Congress leaders, especially Soz and his supporters, launched a scathing attack on the JKPCC president and the man who took on Soz was none other than the Chief Minister's uncle Mustafa Kamaal, additional general secretary of the party. He also did not mince words while attacking Soz. He reportedly said that Soz "is behaving like the leader of opposition" and opined that "his (Soz's) 'veiled threats' to the NC-led Government are against the 'interest" of entire country".
It was not appropriate on the part of "leader of Congress-NC Coordination Committee to speak publicly against the ally and it tantamount to destabilizing coalition Government. The Soz's announcement of launching movement for empowerment of Panchayats is 'not only against the interests of coalition Government and people of Jammu and Kashmir, but (also) detrimental' to the interests of entire country. The utterances also reflect his (Soz's) unhappiness over the functioning of coalition Government. Incorporation of 73rd amendment in State Constitution was not something urgent and Soz should have waited for next Assembly session. There is no need of bringing ordinance for amending Panchayati Raj Act at this juncture," he said while reacting to what Soz said at Rajouri.
Kamaal did not stop there. Candidly admitting that "coalition of NC-Congress is an uneasy alliance", he virtually ridiculed Soz saying he "should have raised the issue of empowerment of Panchayats in the Coordination Committee" and asked "why he did not get the issue raised in the last Legislative Assembly session, if he is so much sincere about the subject."
This is the nature of relationship between the Congress and the NC. It is time for the Congress leadership to call the NC's bluff. The best course would be to come out of the Government. Not to do or to continue to support the NC-led Government from inside and oppose it from outside would simply make people believe that the Congress is not really committed to what it has been saying about panchayats and Panches and Sarpanchs for quite sometime now. |
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