New chorus is that nothing should be done in Jammu and Kashmir till the new elected government is in place. That is to say that nothing that impacts State’s special status or its legal framework or the administrative measures that would have long-term repercussions should be kept on hold. This is what People’s Democratic Party leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said in as many words , and, in fact , warmed Governor Satya Pal Malik against making any changes to the existing constitutional and administrative structure in the State. Some of her concerns have been shared by National Conference, and to some extent by Congress, too.
Political parties have an obligation to talk about the issues that concern the people. It is also their responsibility to put the things in a proper perspective and make the Governor, especially when he is both head of the State and the Government, during Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, as to what would be unsettling for the State. This is the prime duty of the political parties.
One thing that these political parties must understand that Satya Pal Malik is a politician, and much of his politics is Uttar-Pradesh oriented. He knows about Jammu and Kashmir only through his interaction with the political leaders at the national level who have had some experience of the Kashmir affairs , or from the leaders like late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed , and the living legend Farooq Abdullah . Or, what he has been briefed by the bureaucrats here and in Delhi .
In the opening days of his Gubernatorial assignment in Jammu and Kashmir, he had told Indian Express that though he has been given some picture and advice by his predecessor N N Vohra the only Governor who had stayed in the office for the two consecutive terms of five years each ,” but I will go by the advice of those who have appointed him.” He did not hide the fact that he would handle the Kashmir affairs the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh wanted him to. There was no ambiguity in this.
It also needs to be recalled that the Governor who wanted to work for peace for involving the youth had also made it very clear in plain words that the ” fresh elections to the Assembly ( that he inherited in a suspended animation ) would be the best option. And, I would not allow any combination of defectors to take over.” But when he dissolved the House on November 21 , there were a host of questions , why he did not dissolve the House immediately after he took over, and if he had to do so what he did on November 21 when the two rival alliances staked the claim to form the government , why he didn’t do it earlier . These questions will become the part of the history of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a different matter whether these will be seen as a repeat of what Delhi had been doing in the past or it was a new precedent.
Whatever may be said, the Governor by his November 21, 2018 act has opened the doors for the fresh elections in the State. The elections will bring in the new government, whether through a majority by one party or combination of the two. The possibilities of National Conference and Congress alliance are doing the rounds, though the NC’s patriarch Farooq Abdullah has asserted it clearly that his party will go all alone in the elections and would win a clear majority. That may very well happen , but to calculate the outcome of the Kashmir politics going by the mood of the people is a biggest challenge for any political scientist . Lesser mortals can say little about it .
Here it would be wise to ask for the early Assembly elections so that the new government is in place at the earliest. Even the worst political government is better than the rule of the bureaucrats. That is an old saying and it is true as of today, too.
This would also set at rest all the speculations and rumours that the existing set up is trying to fiddle with the State’s constitutional system or change the administrative arrangement impacting the existing arrangement.
The Governor should work to hold the elections at the earliest to scotch all the speculations and live up to his word of having the popular government in place to take call on Article 35 A, autonomy of J&K Bank and grant of divisional status to Ladakh.
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