Jammu, Jan 30
As the ruling National Conference (NC) and other political parties are pressing for statehood, the BJP has urged Delhi to exercise caution while deciding on the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The NC's top leadership appears to have changed its strategy on the issue of statehood issue. The party's top leadership -- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and NC Chief Farooq Abdullah -- have started showing a conciliatory attitude on the issue. They seem to have accepted the fact that the grant of statehood is an issue to be decided by the Centre and picking up the gauntlet on this issue with the Union government might vitiate the apparent thaw in the party’s relations with Delhi.
An indication to this effect was given by NC president and former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah when he said recently that statehood is a matter on which the Centre will have to take the final call. However, his party's other leaders have been vehemently raising the issue on various platforms.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, who presided over the Republic Day function in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium, turned the customary speech into a political tool.
Instead of delivering a speech by rising above politics, Choudhary made a speech that surprised many. He said in his Republic Day address that "Article 370 is, was and will continue to be a constitutional right of J&K". He did not give any explanation for his statement as Article 370 was abrogated by Parliament and the decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.
It is interesting to note that most of the anti-Centre statements have been issued by the Deputy Chief Minister, who got elected from the Nowshera seat of Rajouri district by defeating the then BJP J&K President, Ravinder Raina.
The NC is essentially a regional Valley-centric party and its political narrative has been against the BJP for the latter’s integrative politics that leaves little operating ground for regional players. It is for this reason that the NC got most of its 42 Legislative Assembly seats from the Valley. This places the NC’s political interest diametrically opposite to that of the BJP. Despite this political reality, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his father, Dr Farooq Abdullah have been trying to minimise areas of disagreement with the BJP-ruled Centre.
The almost 100 per cent economic dependence of J&K on the Centre’s support, absence of any industrial base, growing unemployment, lack of funds to pay even the large number of government employees, the fast dwindling agricultural land and the ever-increasing demand for better avenues of business and self-employment, puts the J&K government in an unenviable position. Any confrontation with the Centre is likely to give breathing space to the anti-national elements and supporters of terrorism, who are always on the lookout for opportunities to create political instability in J&K.
Manoj Sinha as the Lt Governor, who is a politician of his standing and has proved himself to be a very capable administrator, is a fine balancing fulcrum between J&K and Delhi. His strong commitment to dismantling the ecosystem of terrorism while ensuring equitable distribution of opportunities to the people in the Valley and Jammu divisions has helped bridge the gap and remove the misgivings of the common man. From meeting students, writers, academicians, artists, and sportspersons to his patronage of J&K Police and the security forces, the Lt Governor has not kept himself restrained to the gubernatorial aloofness of the Raj Bhavan in J&K.
L-G Manoj Sinha has been listening to the grievances of the people and in his unobtrusive, subtle and effective way been addressing these. His presence is a big discouragement to those who wanted to project the Lt governor’s office as an agent of New Delhi. Sinha is proving himself to be the lieutenant governor of the ordinary citizen of the UT.
The ruling NC can deliver better by working together with the Lt Governor using his advice and experience rather than trying to waste time in a superfluous confrontation about who is the boss in J&K.
