For once,  it seems that  Chief Minister Omar Abdullah   has realized  that  party  makes the government  not the vce versa.  His party, National Conference,  was hoping for the day to come, when their leader would talk about the party and the party-men. And that moment came, when  he addressed office bearers of Jammu province  at his party headquarters Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan in Jammu. He invoked the times and slogans of his grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s times to  infuse  enthusiasm among the office bearers, who  repeatedly cheered him.
He has chosen December 16 for the display of the show of strength in Jammu.  This serves three purposes, it gives  his party leaders to mobilize men, women and youth to take part in the “massive rally “, where the party's working president  ( read Omar Abdullah) would list  the achievements of the government as Chief Minister. And, he believes that  his government has done much better than  the precious governments. The theme of the achievements is already known, State Accountability Commission, State Information Commission and now  the constitution of the CVC. The panchayat polls, of course, figure on the top of the list.
Secondly, December 16 gives a little over a month to the party leaders, some of them ministers, to bring crowds to the rally, which Omar said would be unprecedented.  After  all, Jammu region is having much more tough terrain than the Valley, any party worker coming from the remote and hilly areas would have to travel long distances to reach  Jammu.
Thirdly, there is no secret that even if the PDP was not holding mega rallies, the party has rattled other political groups  and National Conference  is no  exception. Omar tried to give  it a twist that  with “ 100 to 200 odd audience, PDP was trying to give an impression that it is widening its base in Jammu. That was the perception in Kashmir, little realizing that PDP has lost the ground in Kashmir”. What he meant to say was that the  PDP was neither here  nor there and it  is on decline.
If that is the case, then Chief Minister should have recognized the fact that there was no need to “give a befitting answer” to  the weakened opposition. But since he is determined to give a “befitting answer” and  demonstrate the show of the strength of the party, and also to show that the party is not lying dormant, so  the massive rally.
First task  for the National Conference workers is, to convince the people that it is worthwhile to travel to Jammu and listen to their leader. They will have to count their achievements, which the common man is not as much aware of as  the ministers in the government are. If you ask legislators of National Conference, whether they are in know of the things what the government has done for the state, they  fumble. Their fumble has  a reason, because they too have been not informed as much about the  achievements of the government, which are plenty. They have been taught  only how to bash opposition group, Peoples' Democratic Party.
Whatever be the purpose of the forthcoming  the December 16 mega rally, one  point that  emerges out of  Omar Abdullah’s exhortation to the party leaders of Jammu on Saturday was an inner realization that the party is  supreme. It is the party’s will  and work that would  carry the day and not the pleasing words from New Delhi.  Rahul Gandhi did not join the Manmohan Singh government and instead dedicated himself to the party  and its  expansion in the country. Had he wanted to become  Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh would not have taken a second to make way for him. But Rahul is interested in the party and party workers. He talks to them, interacts with them, though he remains inaccessible to media.
It is already late in the day when  he is recognizing the  fact that it would be his party and party workers  who would  propel him to the top slot in 2014 once again.  It would be in his interest, the man at 42, to recognize other fact that the roots have to be strong.

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Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST