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| Azad harmed country, Jammu more as compared to any Kashmiri CM | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 4: Everyone in Jammu province hailed the appointment of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in November 2005. The reason: It was for the first time after 1947 that they got a Chief Minister from their own province. They had adopted Azad as their leader, notwithstanding the fact that he was also ethnically Kashmiri. His forefathers migrated to the Doda area about a century ago. The people of Jammu were happy because they were of the view that Azad would end discriminatory policies and do justice to them and provide a genuinely secular and democratic government.
Did Azad come up to the expectations of the people Jammu and the country as a whole? No. He didn't. In fact, he did things none of his predecessor had ever dared to do. He harmed Jammu as well as the country to the maximum possible extent. A brief description here about what happened in the state during his regime would be in order. In fact, a reference here to just eight examples would be enough to enable people to determine the extent to which he damaged Jammu and the country.
A brief reflection here on what the ruling coalition comprising the Congress, the PDP, the PDF and the CPI-M and the main opposition NC did in the Assembly during the 2007 January-February budget session is necessary to show what they actually did and stood for. Hence, a reference here to their attitude to at least eight private Members' bills.
One, the Panthers Party, one of the coalition partners, moved a private member's bill in the Assembly seeking support of the House in favour of the suggestion that there should be only one flag for the state. The bill highlighted the significance of the national flag and wanted all the political parties to adopt the same so that the provisions concerning the state flag were repealed and the national flag reigned supreme in Jammu and Kashmir, as was the case with other states of the Union. All the coalition partners, without any exception, and the opposition NC summarily rejected the landmark private member's bill, which was simply aimed at integrating the state with the rest of the country and bringing Jammu and Kashmir on a par with other states.
Two, it may appear preposterous and unbelievable, but it is a fact that all the coalition partners, with the exception of the Panthers Party, adopted in no time a private member's bill, which was moved by the opposition NC. The bill provided for one-year imprisonment for those who would not show the kind of respect the state flag deserved. The NC had moved this bill to counter the BJP's age-old one-flag (read national flag) and one-constitution (read Indian Constitution) slogan. The defeat of the private member's bill" on national flag and the adoption of the bill on punishment for those not showing due respect to the state flag and the unflinching support extended by the ruling party to the Valley-based outfits had then sprang a big surprise, with the people questioning the very credentials of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Three, one of the BJP legislators moved a private member's bill seeking citizenship rights for the refugees from West Pakistan, numbering approximately 1.5 lakh, mostly members belong to the Scheduled Caste community. He urged the House to adopt it saying these poor refugees had been denied their fundamental rights, including the right to own immovable property in the state, right to contest election to the Assembly and local bodies, right to franchise, right to equality, right to higher and professional education, right to bank loan, right to obtain jobs under the State Government and so on, but with no result. The ruling party (congress) and all other parties, barring the Panthers Party, the BJP and the Jammu State Morcha, opposed the bill tooth and nail. The result was that the well-intentioned and well-conceived bill collapsed.
The opposition of the ruling Congress to the private member's bill was beyond comprehension considering the fact that Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister), Lal Kishan Advani (former Deputy Prime Minister), Inder Kumar Gujral (former Prime Minister), Jagmohan (former Governor and Union Minister), Arun Shourie (former Union Minister), to mention only a few, were all refugees from Pakistan. That the Congress and the NC, the PDP, the PDF and the CPI-M joined hands and got the bill defeated only indicated their lack of commitment to the human rights of the refugees from West Pakistan, as also their willingness to go with those in Kashmir who were opposed to these refugees on the ground that their empowerment would change the demographic profile of the Assembly segments in Jammu and enhance the Jammu's representation in the legislature. (To be continued) |
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