Intro: NC, instead of playing a role of constructive opposition, is behaving like a bunch of goons who by their destructing virtue are trying to obstacle the government
Day-by-day, the clear line between the two kinds of politics, the politics of governance vs the politics of dysfunction and the politics of development vs the politics of cease, is becoming clearer and distinguishable. The political incidents of the just gone June 16 have made it even sharper.
When the State and Centre Governments were chalking out various policies, the ousted National Conference (NC) was engaged in blocking roads and closing markets of Jammu. Devender Singh Rana led misguided workers of NC who were clashing with the police at the same time when Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) was busy finalising the scholarship for 5000 students of the state under PMSSS (Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship).
The leadership of NC was shouting to instigate people at the same moment when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh came to a joint press conference on June 16 just to announce an additional package of Rs 2,437 crore for reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir as the Government at the Centre was concerned about the loss of the people in the devastating flood.
“ Rs 2,602 crore had been released last year. Other than this, Rs 2,437 crore will be released this year,” Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi on the same day when leaders of NC pledged to continue their ‘fight’ against the ruling coalition of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Only after three months of the Governance of BJP and PDP coalition, the NC leaders including Omar Abdullah are blaming Coalition Government for the bad road conditions, electricity and water.
Yes! State severely lacks in the development of roads, electricity and water facilities (along with the education, corruption, unemployment, terrorism and separatism) which would have not been the case if these issues had ever been in the priority of decade long rule of NC and Congress. Do people not understand this? Yes, they understand but it’s NC which is trying to make joke of people’s judiciousness.
People of Jammu and Kashmir have voted against the retrogressive, suppressive and discriminatory policies and for the first time after independence they have successfully broken the ungainly chain of NC and Congress rule. They have chosen PDP over NC in Kashmir region and BJP over Congress in the remaining parts of the state.
Obviously, the long addiction of the power has produced frustrating side effects in the leadership of NC. While they are in the opposition, side effects are so severe that NC, instead of playing a role of constructive opposition, is behaving like a bunch of goons who by their destructing virtue are trying to blackmail the government. Otherwise there is no point in shouting for ‘throwing out’ of a democratically elected government only after three and half months.
Now question arises: What can people expect in coming days? The answer lies in the blueprints of the Centre and State Governments. It means, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, side by side with the Central Government, is going to work for the betterment of the State. All this would further increase the frustration in the opposition. Opposition will try hard to misguide people and hinder governance. Only judiciousness of the people and strict maintenance of the law and order situation would make the crafty efforts of opposition useless.
Arvind (The writer is a researcher at J&K Study Center, New Delhi)
