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| Omar's AFSPA, power projects talk hollow; commoners aghast | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 9: Ex-Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah's concern for Prime Minister Narinder Modi announcing Rs. 80000 crore economic package for Jammu and Kashmir while making no mention of revocation of AFSPA, return of hydroelectric power projects and holding talks with Pakistan has few takers across the state.
Commoners have been talking in open that it is mere posturing and has no sense of sincerity behind it. They talk at length about Omar having miserably failed to convince New Delhi to give concessions to Jammu and Kashmir during his 6 year term when he had a friendly regime led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, ruling the roost. Omar kept parroting that AFSPA would be revoked during his tenure but things moved not even an inch despite his repeated claims.
Omar tweeted about Prime Minister Narinder Modi having announced merely a financial grant and not a comprehensive political and economic package but forgot that it was this huge package about which he would often say that Mufti befooled people of Kashmir by justifying alliance with BJP on grounds that a friendly regime in New Delhi would grant economic and political concessions to the state. Commoners know well that Omar was in power for 6 months even during the Modi's tenure but he too failed to convince BJP led NDA in New Delhi about the necessity for funding flood-hit J&K.
Commoners still talk about killing in 2009 and 2010. They have not forgotten political murder of Haji Yousuf, an ardent NC worker. They know well that Omar enforced Curfew to prevent fall-out of the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Omar did nothing to ensure that Afzal Guru's wife meets his husband one last time. He had expressed surprise and claimed in the press that he knew nothing about the hanging of Guru.
Such grave was the situation during Omar's tenure that a Secretary level officer snubbed Omar and publicly told him to maintain law and order in the state. Not only this, Omar failed in enforcing discipline in administrative set-up. Who would forget how empowered few individuals had become during Omar's tenure and how officers were tossed here and there purely because they refused to dance to the tune of few private individuals.
Commoners further talk about the fact that Omar failed to contain corruption in administrative as well as political set-up. Omar's worry about Prime Minister Narinder Modi having snubbed Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed does not augur well since he was snubbed by clerks in New Delhi and had no control even over the officers who were part of his coterie.
Ironically, Omar and his party colleagues desisted from welcoming Rs. 80000 crore package and instead focussed on political and administrative concessions which his party demanded from Congress and which was never granted to him. Omar kept parroting that AFSPA would be revoked during his tenure and once even said that it would be done in "next few days" but nothing happened, state moved not even an inch. Instead, situation deteriorated from bad to worse.
Intellectuals across the state agree that had the old hawks not resisted, Omar and his close friend Devinder Singh Rana had begun creating an atmosphere for shaking hands with BJP. They state that NC would have been sitting in the lap of RSS, had the old hawks not threatened to disassociate themselves from the party. Murmurs were in political circles that NC was ready to play second fiddle, allowing a BJP leader to head the state government.
Whether or not this had some truth in it, the fact remains that NC had deep connect with BJP since the days of ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee when Omar himself was a Junior minister in his cabinet. It is known to one and all that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has close friendship with ex-CM Dr. Farooq Abdullah and even his son Omar Abdullah. In this scenario, commoners find Omar's statements merely an attempt to hoodwink vote bank and nothing else.
They agree that Omar should focus more on playing role of an effective opposition and stop issuing statements purely for public consumption. Omar's talk of so-called Hurriyat leaders being caged by PDP-BJP government looks hollow when one reflects at his tenure when he would often enforce curfew to ensure New Delhi does not get annoyed with him. He maintained thick silence during his stint as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has now been speaking off and on over the same issues which he failed to get resolved during his tenure. |
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