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| Why Omar Abdullah has learnt no lesson? | | |
Syed Junaid Hashmi
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 15: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seems to have learnt no lesson from the debacles his party suffered, first during the Lok Sabha elections of May 2014 and later in the state assembly elections, where National Conference (NC) would have been wiped out, had fortune not favoured some of its candidates in the south and north Kashmir.
Omar celebrated his victory in Beerwah, not realizing that it was grace saved and nothing to be proud of. On twitter, he calls himself MLA Beerwah, as if it to suggest that he is a professional politician, one who contested an election, won and now is an MLA. Ask someone, he would tell you plainly that the traits are of the owner of a corporate house.
He enforced curfews, never heeded to the advice of his elders and always feared a coup by ex-Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and ex-Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammed Sagar.
The realisation dawned upon him after 2014 Lok Sabha debacle since it was upto this election that whatever ex-Advisor and Provincial President of NC Devinder Rana in particular and the other advisor Nasir Aslam Wani said used to be the last word he would believe on this earth. After these two, a coterie of friends who would say "Goody Goody" things to Omar impacted his decision making ability. Rest all was 'Bakwaas' and if Newspapers said something "he would go strictly by credibility certificates issued by Sarkari Babus."
Things had gone from bad to worse in the backyard but Omar refused to believe. After Lok Sabha debacle, Omar opened up the email lines for the public, sought opinions from them and took some people friendly initiatives but by then, situation had gone completely out of his hands. National Conference (NC) met with disaster in the state assembly elections. From having virtually sweeped the elections on a comeback in 1996, the party was reduced to 15 seats in the 2015 state assembly elections. The rout was complete but the advisor and Provincial President Devinder Rana, brother of Minister in the PMO Dr. Jatindra Singh managed to pull up victory from Nagrota constituency where it was rumoured that a deal had been stuck with BJP.
Whether this is a fact or fiction is of no consequence but fact remains that Rana won from BJP state president's home constituency despite Prime Minister Narinder Modi managing a clean sweep for BJP in Jammu region. BJP which won from Muslim dominated erstwhile District Doda lost from Nagrota, something which even NC leaders are still baffled about. After the state assembly election results were declared, Omar choose the path to block PDP's way of grabbing the power, the ultimate goal of very political party. He tweeted satisfaction and cheerfulness over 'disastrous' results.
Little realizing that he and his team of 'brainy intellectuals' had brought disaster to the doorsteps of a party which once represented all the three regions of the state, Omar tweeted as if to suggest that he was not going to allow BJP to ally with PDP or PDP to ally with BJP. He talked about conscience and Kashmiri spirit while forgetting that he was a minister in the BJP-led NDA when Gujarat riots took place. His party was in alliance with BJP in the centre when 'Greater Autonomy' report passed by the Jammu and Kashmir legislature was consigned to the dustbin by BJP-led NDA.
A committee was later formed but none resigned, none had the courage than to call a spade a spade, none tweeted then since twitter was not born, none expressed remorse or regret, none left the government when even the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee advised, none bothered about Kashmiris in particular and J&K in general, none had tears in his eyes for Ehsaan Jaffiri and his widow, none had the courage to speak the truth both in New Delhi and in Srinagar.
Omar talked at length about PDP having sacrificed their ideology for the sake of power, offered them outside support, wanted PDP to follow his line and even while doing so tried to settle a backhand deal with BJP for coming back to power. When the script did not go as he intended, Omar pooh-poohed PDP for shaking hands with BJP after having ran complete campaign against the party. He referred to Mufti promising to stop juggernaut of RSS but forgot his own doings during six years of rule and as some say it 'misrule'.
After the formation of PDP-BJP government on the basis of both the parties having mutually agreed to sign an agenda of alliance, Omar tweeted for sometime what Mufti said and what he later did. Then he shifted to relief package and kept asking the PDP about the Rs.44,000 crore package. Mufti maintained a silence and when Prime Minister Narinder Modi announced the Rs. 80,000 crore package, Omar shifted gears and like an immature politician began talking about lack of political initiative in the package announced by Modi. He forgot how during his tenure, he talked of revocation of AFSPA with 'a couple of days' but could never manage to get a notification issued by the state governor, what to talk of getting the act revoked by the center.
Omar forgot that during his tenure, arrest and put behind the bars dominated headlines for most of the 2190 days tenure in office. He had a non-RSS government in New Delhi which hanged Afzal Guru and declined him everything he wished for atleast on paper. His friend Rahul Gandhi failed to offer him a political package, he talks about now. His friend P.Chidambram gave him no concessions as Home Minister. Such was the situation that a clerk in home ministry advised Omar to take care of his state and stop advising about what they should have done or what they should not have done.
After the announcement of Package, those who understand J&K politics expected Omar Abdullah to take lead in reviving National Conference (NC) bit-by-bit and piece-by-piece but if the twitter handle is any indication, he continues to be non-serious. He is more bothered about issuing statements on India's external affairs and less interested in asking his political workers about their adventures.
Omar seems to have got a feeling that by allaying with BJP, PDP has given NC a chance to revive its fortunes, something which a wise man would advice Omar not to even imagine. People have short memories and they go more by what is achieved both on the domestic and on the international front. None needs to remind Omar that people in valley still talk about ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee having done wonders for them. And if Prime Minister Narinder Modi walks a few more steps and takes some serious political initiatives on Kashmir, Omar would have to return home in London and tweet back in J&K weather reports of Wales and Birmingham. |
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