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| The Assault on Leader & an idea | | | Omkar Dattatray
The recent assassination bid on Dr Farooq Abdullah who is a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir State and the president of National Conference is a very serious matter. This, assault on the life of Dr Farooq Abdullah is not only the attack on the leader and his person but more than that it was an attack on the very idea and philosophy and ideology which National Conference and the undisputable leader of the NC. We should take off the biased spectacles and then view and analyse the implications and ramifications of the recent assault on Farooq Abdullah who is the octogenarian leader. In fact National conference is not only the oldest political party of Jammu and Kashmir as we call it the traditional mainstream political party but it reflects and symbolises that NC is the movement more than a party. So had the Muslim Conference transformed and converted /changed into National Conference in yore.NC represents communal harmony, mutual brotherhood and in true sense of the word it symbolised what we call syncretic culture or Kashmiriyat and thus seen dispassionately the assault on the president of National Conference was an assault on the very idea. philosophy and the ideology which NC represents. Therefore, the assault on the NC president should not be taken lightly and ignored as an ordinary matter given the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is still running as a region marred by bombs and deaths though the ground situation has now changed forb better. National Conference has been a big victim of militancy and terrorism as many leaders and party workers of this traditional mainstream party have been killed by the terrorists in most inhuman way and so it can be said that NC has suffered great human loss but thank God Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah have withstood terrorism and are today leading the politics and ruling the UT. However coming back to the recent assassination bid on the person of Farooq Abdullah it can be safely said that it was not an ordinary matter to be brushed under the carpet or thrown in the dustbin of history but it should be thoroughly investigated to find the actual reason behind attack. Future historians will see this attack as an assault on the philosophy which National Conference and its top leader represents. As already outlined at the outset that the attack was the assault more on the philosophy and the idea of the communal harmony and brotherhood. Who will forget the famous slogan of National Conference founder and patriarch Sher-ie -Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdulla of Shier-e-Kashmir Ka Kya Irshsad Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Ithaad and its slogan during and fighting the tribal invasion of Pakistan in 1947 which runs as Hum Kashmiri Hai Tayaar Hamlawer Khabardar. All this points toward the truth that National conference from day one has been espousing the principle of mutual co-existence and mutual brotherhood and therefore the assault on the Farooq Abdullah is not only the attack on the person of this towering leader of Jammu and Kashmir but is more an assault on Hindu-Muslim unity ,Kasmiriyat and on the top most Kashmiri leader of NC who is espousing the cause of Hindu-Muslim -Sikh unity and brotherhood and therefore no surprise that this attack has attracted severe and strong condemnation by all political parties across the spectrum. The central government has taken very serious view of the assault on the life of Farooq Abdullah and the Jammu and Kashmir UT government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Special DGP Gillani which will probe the matter and give report to the government in three days. It means that government is very serious about this attack. In fact the assault on Farooq Abdullah has rightly been condemned by various political parties and it clearly shows that the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir and its people love communal harmony and mutual brotherhood. It is NC and its leadership as well as its gross root activists who are attaching top most importance to the ideology and philosophy of National conference and truly it was and is the NC which believes and practises communal harmony and secularism in letter and spirit and therefore no surprise that the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir and its citizenry alike have condemned the assault on the person of Farooq Abdullah. In our secular and liberal democracy there is no place for such attacks and violence and more so on the leaders espousing mutual co-existence ,communal harmony and mutual brotherhood for which NC is known in the country. The principles and core ideology of J&K National Conference are rich, beautiful and pristine and the party, its leaders and ground level workers should uphold these principles and never comprise with these principles come what may. The day NC flouts and compromises its basic and primary principles of communal amity and mutual brotherhood, tolerance, coexistence ,pluralism and secularism, it will bring doom to the party and it will then be on the path of self-annihilation and following this path will be destructive and therefore NC leaders and its gross root workers should follow the principles and basic ideology so that party shines on the political horizon of Jammu and Kashmir. This will be in the interest of NC as well as of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah’s political journey in Jammu and Kashmir has seen both good days as well as trials and turbulations. The, assassination bid on the life of Farooq Abdullah on the evening of March 11 in a marriage party in Jammu is very unfortunate, sad and disturbing particularly given the fragile political atmosphere of the Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah is the tallest political leader of Jammu and Kashmir and commands respect not only in the political circles but among the citizenry. He stands tall for decades for espousing secularism, pluralism, mutual brotherhood and communal harmony as well as loyalty to the country’s constitution. Farooq Abduallah is the strong torch bearer of plural ethos, secularism as well as communal harmony and amity and stands tallest among all the political leaders of not only Jammu and Kashmir but of India also. Thus the attack on his person is not merely an assault on his precious life but on the principles and ideology which he upheld all his political life. It is an attack on the very ideals which he represented all through his life. To sum up, it can be rightly said that Farooq Abdullah is the beacon of light for all those people who believe in peace, dialogue, reconciliation and last but not the least coexistence which is so dear to this tallest -leaders of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus the assault on his life is not merely an attack on the person of Farooq Abdullah but on the core principles and tenets which he represents and upheld all through his political and public life. May Farooq Abdullah live long as Jammu and Kashmir needs him the most? Amin!
The author is a columnist, social, KP activist & Freelancer |
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