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| Mattoo's appointment as Political Advisor has puzzled many | | Finding motive | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 6: Former Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University Amitabh Mattoo joined the PDP-BJP coalition Government in Jammu & Kashmir as Political Advisor to the Chief Minister on August 26. His appointment has triggered a fierce debate in political and non-political circles. Everyone has been trying to find reason/reasons which led to his appointment, but without any success. His appointment still remains a riddle. Some say "he was imposed by the BJP leaders like Ram Madhav". Some say "Amitabh Mattoo owes his appointment to RSS". Some say "he has been appointed to create conditions which would help the BJP and the PDP resolve the Kashmir issue by taking Pakistan and Hurriyat into confidence". Some ask "where was the need for the Chief Minister to appoint Mattoo as his Political Advisor? "The PDP is a party which has leaders who are well-versed in political matters and have connections at right places in the Delhi's corridors of power," said a university student Sujjat Ali. He also added that "Mattoo's appointment as political advisor has not gone down well with many in the PDP itself" and said "this development has caused confusion in a section of the PDP leadership".
Another university student Sudesh Kumar has said that "Mattoo can't play any role in the State politics, as he is not popular even in his own community" and that "as Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, he had courted many controversies by organizing certain events within the premises of the university which created doubts in the minds of the nationalists about his intentions and credentials". "How could a man who is not popular even in his own community play any positive role in the State?", he asked, adding that "he belongs to a school of thought which the nationalists in the State hate and despise". "Jammu and Ladakh have no place in his scheme of things. He hobnobs with those who concept of India and on India is regressive. His whole formulation on Jammu & Kashmir is flawed and lop-sided," he further said, adding that "he is not a material which could bridge the gap between the regions and the communities".
Mattoo was a champion of greater autonomy before he came close to the pro-self-rule PDP. Besides, he has all along opposed the Kashmiri Hindus' demand for separate homeland in the Valley and shared the view that New Delhi was responsible for the "alienation of Kashmiri Muslims from the national mainstream".
Not just this, he has all through held the view that Pakistan is a factor in Jammu & Kashmir that needs to be recognized and that the involvement of Hurriyat leaders in the dialogue process is also imperative.
Take, for example, his concept of reconciliation: He, among other things, Say: "You need reconciliation between Kashmiri Muslims and Delhi. For decades, Kashmiris have felt deeply alienated from the Centre's policies. In the Valley, you need reconciliation between Pandits and Muslims. Everyone recognises they were faithful to a syncretic culture for centuries - but the gulf between them has widened. Then, within the State, you need multiple reconciliations between the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh and within these regions, there are sub-regions. There has to be reconciliation between two parts of Kashmir across the LoC. And, in a grand kind of reconciliation, we need to build foundations of India-Pakistan peace" (Times of India, May 25, 2015). Every word that he used is self-explanatory.
Similarly, take his stand on Article 370. His stand on Article 370 is similar to the one of the Kashmiri leaders of all hues. "Article 370 was and is about providing space, in matters of governance, to the people of a State who felt deeply vulnerable about their identity and insecure about the future. It was about empowering people, making people feel that they belong, and about increasing the accountability of public institutions and services. Article 370 is synonymous with decentralisation and devolution of power, phrases that have been on the charter of virtually every political party in India. There is no contradiction between wanting J&K to be part of the national mainstream and the State's desire for self-governance as envisioned in the Article. Separatism grows when people feel disconnected from the structures of power and the process of policy formulation; in contrast, devolution ensures popular participation in the running of the polity. It can be reasonably argued that it is the erosion of Article 370 and not its creation which has aggravated separatist tendencies in the State," he, for example, wrote in The Hindu ("Understanding Article 370", December 6, 2013).
The people of Jammu region and Ladakh, like the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus, refugees from Pakistan, refugees from PoJK and so on, do not appreciate Amitabh Mattoo's concept of reconciliation and stand on Article 370. One can refer to here many of his writings which suggest that he stands for a dispensation to which the people of these two regions plus all the non-Muslim minorities in the State are bitterly opposed.
The point is that the appointment of Amitabh Mattoo has surprised many in the State and that's the reason his appointment has triggered a debate. Only the PDP leadership can help those who want to know the motive behind his appointment. |
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