Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 8: The Congress, which was responsible for creating Kashmir problem by involving the NC in the accession process and giving a fillip to communal and separatist politics in Kashmir, has completely deviated from its path in J&K and has become B-team of Kashmiri parties, be it the ruling PDP or the main opposition NC. It, like the BJP, now no more talks about the people of Jammu province with whose support it enjoyed power in the state for decades; it only talks about Kashmir and endorses all that the Kashmiri separatists and parties like the NC and the PDP recommend or vouch for.
It now no more says that J&K's accession with India is final and irrevocable. Nor does it oppose what the Kashmiri separatists do to create problems for India in Kashmir or suppress the minorities' voice. The last few months have witnessed the rise of a situation which has made it extremely difficult to distinguish between the Congress and the NC, the Congress and the separatists, the Congress and the CPI-M, and even the Congress and the PDP, leave aside some vague statements here and there made for hoodwinking people of Jammu and Ladakh and religious minorities in the state.
The just-concluded budget session of the J&K Legislature cleared all the cobwebs of confusion and established that the Congress, like the NC, has turned ultra communal hoping that it might be able to strike a chord with the Kashmiri people, which is not going to happen. In Kashmir, it is all between the PDP and the NC and the marginal outfits like the Congress have no place. It had its influence in a few pockets in the past and its position would not alter in the foreseeable future as the nature of the Valley politics is such. In fact, the situation will further deteriorate with each passing moment because the BJP Government at the Centre has virtually raised its hands and left everything in the state to the care of anarchy.
A reference to just four instances would be enough to establish that the Congress has lost its sheen, appeal and moorings and that it has no independent ideology of its own. One, it, like separatists, the PDP, the BJP, the NC, the CPI-M and independent Kashmir-based lawmakers, opposed tooth and nail the idea of setting up of composite colonies for Kashmiri Hindus as well as setting up of sainik colonies in Kashmir for ex-soldiers belong to J&K. Two, similarly, it, like all other outfits, opposed tooth and nail National Food Security Act. Three, it, like all other outfits, opposed the new industrial policy. Lastly, it, like the PDP, the BJP, the NC, the CPI-M and Kashmir-based MLAs, wanted the state assembly to discuss and adopt the pernicious Transfer of Property Bill on June 30 so that a high wall between J&K and rest of the country could be raised and Jammu's economy crippled.
The most significant aspect of the whole situation has been that not a single Congress leader from Jammu province has so far raised his/her little finger against the JKPCC chief, who hails from Kashmir, thus indicating that the entire Congress leadership in J&K is on the same page. On the contrary, two Congress MLAs, one each from Banihal and Inderwal in the erstwhile Doda district made common cause with the votaries of Greater Kashmir and sought de-linking of erstwhile Doda district from Jammu. One of them even moved a resolution in the assembly demanding merger of Banihal with Kashmir province. The result is that the Congress, like the BJP, is at the receiving end in Jammu province. |
