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| Strengthening Congress in Jammu & Kashmir | | | Rustam
JAMMU, May 14: The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) has planned to organize a convention in Srinagar on May 19. According to a report, Ved Prakash, in-charge of J&K Congress, would direct all the AICC delegates, JKPCC members, district presidents, Ministers, Members of Parliament and Legislators to attend the proposed convention. He himself is likely to attend the proposed convention. The objective is to strengthen the party in all the three regions of the State in general and Jammu Pradesh in particular, end factionalism in the party and remove mistrust between leaders and workers. This initiative on the part of the JKPCC and in-charge JKPCC is the immediate fall-out of the directions issued by AICC president Sonia Gandhi that the party should be strengthened at grassroots level so that it could perform well, particularly in the next general elections, which could be held anytime.
It is extremely doubtful if the proposed convention of those who matter in the party would help the Congress in any way. The Congress is not only organizationally weak and faction-ridden but it has also lost touch with the people, who really matter. The Ministers have become Ministers of their own respective constituencies. They refuse to look beyond their constituencies, notwithstanding the oft-repeated suggestion made by senior leaders of the party like the JKPCC chief and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad that they must tour the entire State and work for its development. The Ministers themselves are vertically divided into three groups. Most of them do not see eye to eye with each other. Some of the Ministers are loyal to the JKPCC chief, some to the Union Health Minister and a coupe of them to NC president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. There is an intense power struggle going on between these factions. It will be extremely difficult to bring about unity among them. The story of the Congress Members of Parliament is no different. One of the two Members of the Lok Sabha is loyal to the JKPCC chief and the other to Azad.
The Congress legislators remain confined to their own constituencies. Most of them remain busy in conspiring against each other. They have kept their eyes fixed on certain portfolios which are right now with the Chief Minister, including Roads and Building and School Education. These portfolios were with the Congress party not so-long-ago. The Congress legislators, like the Congress Ministers, are also vertically divided into groups, with most of them having no respect for the JKPCC chief. They are loyal to the Union Health Minister and they demonstrated their solidarity with a Minister-in-the-dock only yesterday. The Minister was none other than Manohar Lal, an ardent follower of Union Health Minister. There was not a single JKPCC president's loyalist among those who on Saturday lodged a protest against those who held demonstrations against Manohar Lal at several places in Kathua and Samba districts and demanded his resignation saying the Minister was knee-deep involved in corruption. The BJP workers in particular had held demonstrations following media reports that the State Accountability Commission (SAC) had decided to look into the allegations of corruption against the said Minister.
It is not only factionalism that has been working against the Congress party and demoralizing the committed party workers, the backbone of the party. The people, particularly the people of Jammu Pradesh, have also been maintaining distance from the Congress party because they scorn at the very idea of the Congress associating itself with the NC, which has not only been demanding autonomy from India, questioning the very accession of the State to India and denouncing the Army and the Indian Constitutional framework but also denying them their due share in the State's political and economic processes. The people of Jammu Pradesh are fed up with the discriminatory policies being evolved and ruthlessly implemented by the NC-led Government of which the Congress party is the most crucial part. The people of Jammu Pradesh have come to believe, and very rightly, that it is basically the Congress party that is squarely responsible for their miserable plight, woes and pain. So much so that some of them have started terming the Congress Ministers as "Jammu ke dalal", "Jammu ke gaddar"; Jammu ke dale" and "Jammu ka gand (dirt). The truth is that the people of Jammu Pradesh denounce the Congress Ministers belonging to this region and say they are party to all the decisions the NC-led Government takes to harm Jammu and benefit Kashmir.
If the Congress leadership sincerely wishes to strengthen and rejuvenate the Congress party in the State, it has to take serious cognizance of all these facts and affect changes accordingly. But the question is: Will Ved Prakash and others be able to take drastic action against those who have damaged the party by making common cause with the NC and ignoring people and their aspirations and needs? The answer just cannot be yes. Another question to be asked is: Will the Congress party sever its relations with the NC and assert its position and authority independently? Again, the answer is negative. The Congress high command will not allow the local congress leadership to upset the NC's apple-cart. Indeed, the task of Ved Prakash is very difficult. |
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