Amit Kushari IAS (retd)
The arithmetic in the new assembly was such that it was difficult, indeed, to get a cohesive and coherent Government in J&K. Gone are those days when NC was the only mainstream party of Kashmiris. PDP was not born at that time and so Sheikh Abdullah and his son, Farooq Abdullah had a very smooth sailing in the state elections. Since Kashmir valley has 46 seats, it was quite easy for NC to get 35-40 seats in the valley. They could easily manage to get 10-12 seats from Jammu/Ladakh, giving them a thumping majority in the state as a whole. The state government was always a Kashmiri dominated government, with a sprinkling of Jammu here and there. People of Jammu developed a deep sense of deprivation and jealousy over the years. The scenario changed when Ms Mehbooba Mufti and her illustrious father formed PDP, another Kashmir centric party. The votes of Kashmiris got divided and the people of Jammu saw a ray of hope. In 2002, for the first time Jammu got a deputy Chief Minister in the veteran Congress leader, Mr. Mangat Ram Sharma. Later on Jammu had another Deputy Chief Minister in a leader from Akhnoor.
In the last election, the people of Jammu showed extraordinary unity and voted for the nationalist party of India(BJP). This threw up a situation where BJP had 25 seats from Jammu and its informal ally, People’s Conference, had 2 seats from the valley, taking the tally to 27. This was just 1 seat less than PDP, the leading party of Kashmir. In this scenario, it was not possible to ignore BJP/Peoples Conference. After prolonged negotiations the PDP-BJP-Peoples Conference has come to power with Mufti Sahab as Chief Minister. For the first time BJP has become a part of the State Government– that too pushing its own way in its own right. This is really a historic event because a hard core nationalist party of India has gate crashed into the Kashmir valley using Jammu as an important bridge between India and Kashmir, The negotiations took a very long time because this was like the marriage of the North Pole and the South Pole. Now we have to see how long the North Pole and South Pole can co-exist harmoniously within one state. There is really nothing common between Kashmir and Jammu and if they can co-exist harmoniously it would be a miracle indeed. For this both the parties have to bury their differences in ideology and work for maximum governance, Within the first three days only controversies have cropped up over CM”s utterances and allocation of portfolios. There was a furore in parliament because CM had thanked Hurriyat and Pakistan and this was unacceptable for the Indian leaders. For running a coalition Government, such statements, however true, should be avoided. Unless Hurriyat had lifted its ban on elections, the voting percentage in Kashmir could never have been over 70%, it would have been below 40%. The Kashmiri Muslims came out in large numbers to vote and that is why Mufti Sahab could become the Chief Minister. Otherwise the arithmetic could have been different with NC, Congress and even BJP improving their tallies. The CM was only expressing his gratitude, and he should not be criticised unduly for this.
However, I feel that the CM ought to have been more magnanimous in distribution of portfolios. The Deputy CM ought to have been given one of the 4 important departments like, Home, Finance, GAD and PWD. Since Mr. Lone is unhappy with Animal Husbandry he could have been offered something better, like Forests or Agriculture. However, I feel Animal and Sheep husbandry is a very important department in J&K because it touches the lives of a big section of the population. Some people are joking about this department as “mehkuma haiwaniyat” (department of beasts). However these people are totally wrong. Milk, mutton and chicken which are so important in our diet, flow from this department only. Lone Sahab should not feel betrayed. I hope the initial birth pangs will be over soon and the state will be able to march towards prosperity with funds flowing in from Delhi in huge amounts with a friendly benevolent Prime Minister at the centre.
(The author is former Financial Commissioner J&K Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com )
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