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| Union Congress Minister Lambasts | | Union Congress Minister Lambasts his Govt’s Kashmir handling |
In his over zealousness to over reach out to Kashmiris Union Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Ramesh points out in adequacies of his party led governemnt’s handling of Kashmir issue, while at the same time holding BJPs brand of hyper nationalism responsible for alienation of Kashmiris from the national mainstream.
By Yash Bhasin
The Senior Congress leader, Jai Ram Ramesh, who is Union Minister for Rural Development, concluding his two days visit to Kashmir valley stated that the Central intelligence agencies are dictating India’s Kashmir policy and the Centre is not sensitive enough to the aspiration of the people in the valley, admitting inadequacies in the Kashmir policy of the government of which he is a part. Ramesh further said “What Kashmir needs is right political engagement, not a strategy influenced by the spy, security agencies. It is the political vacuum that allowed the growth of militant secessionist groups.
Obviously, Ramesh was pointing out towards the false approach of the Congress led UPA government in the Centre. To trace the 25 years long history of militancy, coupled with widening of the space of secessionism in Kashmir, it started in 1988, soon after the rigged elections jointly by the Congress and the National Conference government in J&K. At a time of height of militancy in Kashmir from 1988 to 1990, there was the Janta Dal government in the Centre, while in J&K there was NC-Congress coalition government in the state. Thus Ramesh is only blaming his own party governments for eruption of militancy in the state and growth in alienation of Kashmiris.
After short term of Janta Dal government, headed by VP Singh in the Centre, Congress again came back to power, with Narsimah Rao being the Prime Minister of the country. The secessionism and alienation of Kashmiris continued during this period also.
Presently also there is Congress led UPA government in the Centre and NC-Congress coalition government in the state. If the Centre continuous to be insensitive to the aspirations of Kashmir and its Kashmir handling policy is dictated by the intelligence agencies, the Congress led government in the Centre, in which Jai Ram Ramesh is a minister, is responsible for the same. Going by the joint responsibility of the cabinet, for any act of omission and commission and mishandling of any situation by the government, Ramesh is equally responsible for the same. If he genuienualy feels that the Union government’s Kashmir handling policy is at blame, the right course for him is to resign from the cabinet.
While finding fault with the Kashmir handling by the Centre Jai Ram Ramesh has also sharply criticized Bhartiya Janta Party for its hyper nationalism. He said that saffron party’s stance on Kashmir could alienate the Kashmiris and threaten the stability of the region. He added that the BJP brand of hyper nationalism, “The chest thumping, I am Indian kind of politics” would ruin in Kashmir. Does Jai Ram Ramesh pleads for soft nationalism which accommodates secessionism and openly airing secessionist views?
Further, Ramesh needs to be reminded that the serious attempts to remove the alienation of Kashmiris were made during the period when BJP led NDA government was ruling the country. The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpyee had taken bold steps to reach out to the alienated Kashmiris. Even the strong opponents of BJP, including the Kashmir Centric mainstream parties and the separatist even today appreciate the steps taken by Vajpyee government for political solution of J&K and also removing the alienations of Kashmiris. The PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed hardly misses the opportunity to laud Vajpyee government’s initiatives to resolve Kashmir tangle and reach out to Kashmiris.
While Union Rural Development minister’s move to encourage rural women in Kashmir to become entrepreneurs through “Umeed” and Kashmiri youth to acquire skills and assimilate with progress of the country through “Himayat”, two of the ambitious projects for the state, launched by his ministry are highly welcomed, as a step towards give Kashmiris a sense of belonging and infuse confidence in them that the country cares for them, giving impetus to Kashmiris’ victim hood syndrome is dangerous.
By stating that while the mindset of Kashmiris lately has undergone change and they are prepared to avail of the opportunities of economic development, the mindset of Indian towards Kashmiris has not changed, Ramesh has only provided encouragement to the victimhood syndrome among Kashmiris. The state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has recently advised the Kashmiris to shun the victimhood syndrome, which is a right approach, Jai Ram Ramesh has done adverse of the same, during his Kashmir visit.
Infact, it has been a policy of over appeasement of separatists and over emphasizing the separatist mindset and victimhood of Kashmiris, which has provided a strong handle to the secessionist in Kashmir to broaden their constituency. Unfortunately, the centre’s policy of appeasement to the separatists and secessionist and ignoring the aspiration of nationalists in Kashmir, taking them for granting, has been responsible for complicating the situation in Kashmir.
While Jai Ram Ramesh has over emphasized the sensitivities of Kashmiris, he has blatantly ignored the sensitivities, urges and aspirations of the people of other two regions of the state, Jammu and Ladakh, whose population is more than that of Kashmir valley. These two regions have their own complains of domination by Kashmiri politicians and their aspirations ignored by the state and Central governments.
In stating what he has, Jai Ram Ramesh has also done disservice to his party in J&K, which lately is chocking out the course to strengthen its base in Kashmir valley, while it has already strong base in Jammu and Ladakh regions. The state Congress is giving ample hints of fighting next state assembly elections in J&K and also Lok Sabha elections in 2014, on its own without alliance either with NC or with PDP. So is NC thinking in same terms. The PDP has also ruled out pole alliance with Congress. As the situation has developed in the valley after the hanging of, parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, both NC and PDP are wary of making alliance with Central ruling party far the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. By joining course with separatists and separatist friendly Kashmir based mainstream parties, over centre’s raw deal to Kashmir, Ramesh has helped their case, harming the Congress prospects.
(Opinions expressed in write-ups/articles/Letters are the sole responsibility of the authors and they may not represent the scoopnews.in)
Editor, Scoop News
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