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| Contours of Sham Lal Sharma’s bombshell | |
By Yash Bhasin
The outspoken Congress leader and a party minister in NC-Congress coalition government, Sham Lal Sharma has thrown still another bombshell by asserting that the next Chief Minister of J&K should be a Hindu. He has dared to say in unequivocal terms, what no other political leader from the mainstream parties in J&K as well as in the country including the BJP have dared to say in so unequivocal terms. Speaking at a party rally in his home constituency Akhnoor, held to pay tributes to the assassinated Congress leader and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, on his birth day.This statement of Sham Lal Sharma is all set to kick start high level controversy and also give rise to wide speculations over the timing chosen by him to say what he has said. His questioning that if A R Antulay, a Muslim could become Chief Minister of Hindu majority state of Maharashtra and another Muslim Abdul Gafoor could be the Chief Minister of Hindu majority state of Bihar as well as Muslim leaders could become President of India for three terms why cannot a Hindu become the Chief Minister of Muslim majority state of J&K.
The question and reasoning are quite pertinent. Is Indian secularism applicable in a restricted manner in J&K, like some other provisions of the Indian constitution, under Article 370 ? However even the J&K’s own separate constitution no where mentions that the Chief Minister of J&K cannot belong to any minority community in the state.
Sham Lal Sharma, who is already known for daring to speak boldly against perpetual discriminations against Jammu region in all the fields and taking head on the Kashmiri separatists as well as the NC leaders, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah raising doubts over the finality of J&K’s accession to India and the same being unconditional. His present bombshell is poised to leave Kashmiri Muslims leaders, even among the mainstream parties like NC, PDP and even Congress, including Gulam Nabi Azad and Saif-ud-Soz red faced. Both of them are aspirants for the post of Chief Minister if and when Congress comes to power in J&K.
The real objective of Sham Lal Sharma pitching for a Hindu to be a Chief Minister of J&K and asking his supporters to raise such demand at a time when elections to state assembly are only two to three months away is a matter of speculation. Does he want to give the Congress leadership in the state a hint that playing Hindu card alone will checkmate the rising popularity graft of BJP in Jammu region, after the victory of BJP candidates from both the Lok Sabha seats and formation of Modi government in the country the morale in the BJP circle is upbeat, with party launching a mission of 44+ and claiming to form the next government.
It may be recalled that in 1983 state assembly elections, in which
Congress was pitted against NC as well as BJP, the then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi had played a Hindu card at a public gathering in Jammu. After conducting election tour of erstwhile Doda distt., Madam Indra Gandhi had stated at the public meeting in Jammu that there is a deep sense of insecurity and denial of equal opportunities in the minority communities in Muslim majority areas of J&K, including in Jammu region. This had given rise to sharp polarization, with Congress winning all the seats in the Hindu majority constituencies in Jammu, while NC swept all the Muslim majority seats in Jammu along with Kashmir valley.
The BJP which had earlier launched a strong agitation against the Resettlement Act, hoping to draw political gain from the same, had drawn blank. This factor of Indra Gandhi playing Hindu card in Jammu, besides rampant corruption in the BJP control Jammu Municipal Council and sharp dissentions in the state BJP was one of the factors for total rout of BJP in that elections.
Alternatively, it may be due to Sham Lal Sharma feeling shaky in his own Akhnoor assembly constituency, from where too his brother Madan Lal Sharma lagged much behind in polls to the BJP candidate Jugal Kishor Sharma in the Lok Sabha elections and his objective is only confined to his own assembly constituency to consolidate Hindu votes behind him.
Still, the third reason can be that Sharma wants to hasten the process of Congress pulling out of coalition government, much ahead of the elections, by provoking the NC over his statement. This can be also be speculated that Mr. Sharma is creating circumstances for Congress to take action against him or even call his explanation for such a sweeping statement, which harms the prospects of Congress in Kashmir valley as well as in Muslim majority areas of Jammu region, so that he may say good bye to the Congress and join BJP. In many aspects Sham Lal Sharma is already close to and toes the strong pro Jammu and anti separatists as well as BJP’s sharp criticism of separatists friendly statements by NC leaders, as well as friendly overtures to the separatists by some Congress leaders.
Sham Lal Sharma has also advocated for regional councils for three separate regions of the state, the demand already made by the BJP. However, his pitch for autonomous development councils for Chenab valley and Pir Panchal region within Jammu regional council is the ideal solution for winning support of Muslim majority these sub regions, for unity of all sections and sub regions of Jammu region. However, BJP so far has remained reticent about this demand from certain sections in Chenab valley and Pir Panchal belts.
(The author is a senior journalist of J&K)
(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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