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| 'Omar Abdullah's mischievous autonomy trap | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 19: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah explained away his concept of autonomy for the state, regional autonomy and devolution of power while talking to reporters in Jammu on Wednesday. He said: He stands for autonomy for the state, autonomy for the regions and autonomy for the sub-regions. The upshot of his whole autonomy formulation was that the state has to become autonomous and Jammu and Ladakh would get some autonomy within that autonomous state. Yet another refrain of his was that autonomy to the "sub-regions" in the state has also to be conceded. It is very important.
What the Chief Minister told media persons in Jammu was indeed a dangerous trap. It established that he is not prepared to look beyond religion and politics of autonomy/separation and that he wants the people of Jammu and Ladakh to groan under the Kashmiri yoke. He left no body in any doubt about what he wants. He wants a dispensation outside the Indian Constitution. He wants to divide Jammu and Ladakh on communal lines. He also wants the people of Jammu and Ladakh to sever their political and constitutional relations with New Delhi. In other words, he wants Jammu and Ladakh to join Kashmir in its crusade against India and help the Kashmiri leadership in converting Jammu and Kashmir into a theocratic state. He explained his concept of autonomy under the premise that the people of Jammu and Ladakh are fools and that they would become very to hear from him that he is also for the regional autonomy.
The people of Jammu province are not that naive. They are, unlike the Jammu's political leadership, politically very mature. They understand the implications of what Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told media persons in Jammu on Wednesday while explaining his concept of autonomy, regional autonomy and devolution of power. Similarly, the people of Ladakh are not that fool that they do not understand what the protagonists of autonomy for the state have been saying since long. They understand everything. Likewise, the displaced Kashmiri Hindus and Jammu-based small, but highly awakened, political groups are fully conscious of the grave evils that would follow on the acceptance of what Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and others of his ilk have been asking New Delhi to do in the state. They know that the Chief Minister and similar other Kashmiri leaders want New Delhi to pander to communalism in Kashmir, drive the state away from the country's national mainstream and enable Kashmir to strengthen its stranglehold on the whole of the state so that it could exploit the non-Kashmiri population of the state to the hilt and thwart their most cherished dream of becoming a part of the national mainstream.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah must understand that he is not dealing with the people of Kashmir, who could be easily misled, beguiled and emotionally exploited and blackmailed and who could be asked to boycott schools and colleges and pelt stones to please Geelani and others. He is dealing with the people of Jammu and Ladakh and Kashmiri Hindus, who know when to act, when to react, how to act and articulate their viewpoint and how to defeat the evil designs of the votaries of greater autonomy/self-rule/independence/Pakistan, whatever he may think of them. They know everything. They are not a purchasable commodity. Nor anyone can beguile them and blackmail them emotionally any longer. They are committed to linking their political and economic fate to New Delhi and they have demonstrated their firm resolve in this regard in the past umpteen times. The spectacular role that they played during the Amarnath land agitation in 2008 and even thereafter to force the authorities to accept their demands ranging from establishment of Central University in Jammu to the establishment of the Ayurvedic College in Jammu to the gender equality to the appointment of the Scheduled Caste candidates in the district-level posts in the Kashmir province and so on. The fact of the matter is that the Chief Minister has to reckon with such brave and committed people who can go to any extent to defeat the Kashmiri leadership and teach a lesson to the Jammu-based agents of Kashmiri leaders.
The Chief Minister should have taken all these facts into consideration before articulating his perverted, lop-sided and communally-motivated viewpoint on the state autonomy, regional autonomy and devolution of power. Such an approach on his part was imperative. That he didn't do that and, instead, aired views the people of Jammu hate the most shows how irrational he has turned. It appears that he is not contented with what is happening in Kashmir since the last two months. Perhaps, he also wants Jammu to treat him the way the Kashmiri Muslims have started treating him. It is obvious that the Chief Minister is playing with fire. He should recall what the people of Jammu did to him, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others of their ilk in 2008. Has he forgotten that no Kashmiri leader had dared to visit Jammu for a number of months as each and every Kashmiri leader was mortally afraid of the Jammu's anger? He should look back and then make any statement on Jammu and Kashmir. He cannot force down the throats of Jammu and Ladakh his perverted autonomy concept. |
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