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| Kashmir - Congress Radicalism | | | Hari Om
On October 27, Kashmir-based Pakistani agents like
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah and their ilk forced the gullible Kashmir Muslims to observe "black day" in the Valley. It was on this day 68 years ago that the Indian Army landed in Kashmir to expel the Pakistani invaders, both regular and irregular, from the state territories. The Indian Army reached J&K a day after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the historic Instrument of Accession and linked for ever the fate of the people of the State with democratic and liberal India. What the Kashmiri separatists did that day was not altogether unexpected. After all, they consider India an "alien" country and the Indian Army "occupying force" and draw their inspiration from the Islamic State of Pakistan, the epicenter of global terrorism. They had been observing October 27 as "black day", particularly since 1989, when the separatist movement started in Kashmir under the direction, supervision and inspiration of Pakistan, which considers J&K "an unfinished agenda of partition".
However, what shocked the nationalists in the State was what the National Conference (NC) and Congress leaders said on October 26, the historic day of accession. J&K acceded to India that day in 1947 as per the Indian Independence Act of 1947 that empowered the rulers of the Princely States to take a final decision on the political future of their respective States. What dumbfounded and alarmed the very vast nationalist constituency in the State all the more was the highly outrageous stand the Congress high command took on the accession day. Even far more disgusting was the stand the Congress took on those who celebrated the accession day with great pomp and show to rededicate themselves to the national cause in J&K and puncture the ongoing anti-India movement in the highly prosperous and over-fed Valley, the troubled spot in the State.
The NC, which is the main opposition party in the state, condemned those who celebrated the accession day in a big way. It described the accession day as "black day in the political history of J&K" and shamelessly said the "accession of the State to India was temporary and conditional", which is a travesty of truth. Besides, it termed the Indian presence in the State as unlawful and against the will of the people of Kashmir. Indeed, the NC went beyond the constitutional confines in its desperate bid to make common cause with separatists in Kashmir. A couple of days before, the NC had demanded "autonomous" status for J&K, saying this was the only course left to end alienation in Kashmir. The NC is a votary of pre-1953 politico-constitutional status (read a step short of complete independence from India). It says J&K is a Muslim-majority State that needs a separate dispensation.
If the NC, which preaches and practices soft secessionism in the Valley in a most brazen manner, termed the accession day as "black day", the Congress, which suffered three massive defeats in a row in the State in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and in the just-held Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, elections, went several steps further and contemptuously dismissed as divisive and communal the nationalists who celebrated the accession day with great enthusiasm all across Jammu province and Trans-Himalayan Ladakh region.
"Why should we celebrate accession day? We have our own history. We have our own approach. There are several stakeholders in the State. People speak in different voices. What is there to celebrate? Such celebrations are divisive and only hurt the sensitivities of the people (read Kashmiri Muslims). All stakeholders should be taken into confidence before celebrating the accession day," said the JKPCC chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir, an ethnic Kashmiri Sunni. The JKPCC chief got the fullest possible support from two Congress national spokespersons - Tom Badakkan and Mohammad Ali Khan. Both defended the JKPCC chief to the hilt and described the celebration of the accession day as a move calculated to "provoke" people (in this case Kashmiri Muslims).
"There is a way to it. It is in poor taste. Such events provoke certain sections in the State. It is a sensitive area. What is there to celebrate? Such events only foster divisiveness," the Congress national spokespersons, among other controversial things, said.
It is obvious that they described the solemn occasion as a divisive event and dismissed those who celebrated it as a glorious chapter in the political history of J&K as well as the country not on their own, but seemingly at the behest of their bosses in the party, who weep when informed that a Muslim terrorist or separatist has been brought to justice. In the Congress party nothing moves without the consent and concurrence of the Congress high command comprising AICC president Sonia Gandhi and AICC vice-president and worthy son of the Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, the Yuvraj, with Priyanka Vadra also playing her role on certain crucial occasions.
It's no wonder then that the irresponsible conduct of the Congress stung the nationalists in the State. The manner in which the Congress leaders conducted themselves on October 26 has further eroded the support-base of the party in the State, especially in Jammu province, once considered its core constituency. In the last assembly elections, the Congress had won only four seats, as against its tally of 13 in 2008, and if elections are held today in the State, it would be completely wiped in Jammu province like it happened in the just-held crucial elections held to elect the fifth LAHDC, Leh. In the Leh Council elections, it could win only four seats in the 30-member Council, as against its 2010 tally of 21.
The point is that the Congress, like the NC, has turned radical hoping that its identification with the secessionists' anti-India cause will help it capture the communal space in the Valley. It is not going to happen. If anything, the negative politics being played by the parties like the Congress and the NC would only strengthen the Kashmiri separatists, who have been surviving and thriving on the blood and sweat of common Kashmiri people. The problem in J&K is that it is the "mainstream" parties which have been playing negative role to create hatred between Kashmiri Muslims and the rest of the Indians. New Delhi needs to surmount this problem.
--Courtesy: www.niticentral.com |
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