In his Republic Day message, Governor N.N. Vohra has made some hard and plain speaking. The Governor has spoken so plainly and so firmly to the separatist leaders who are in the habit of giving hartal and strike calls day in and day out. The Governor says that those who give calls have no idea of what damage they are doing to the State, how they are working against law and order of the State, how they are depriving students of their right to education and how they are damaging the economy of the State. No patriot leader who believes in the welfare State would ever allow the hooligans and mischief mongers to take law in their hands and give not a damn to the Government authority.
Who has given these separatist leaders the authority to give calls for hartal day in and day out? What are the symptoms of true leadership? Should a patriotic leadership give call for burning schools, libraries, laboratories, dismantling useful structures of public safety, loot banks, take hostages and seek money from those who are not at all involved in the mayhem which they unleash. The Governor has not spared anybody who is officially, ideologically, morally and instinctively responsible for the maintenance of law and order in the State. There could be differences on various counts but that does not give any right to any political boss or party to invite the already misled people and the youth to further deterioration of the law and order situation. It is twenty- eight years that the State has been in turmoil. How many innocent lives have been lost and how much loss has been inflicted on the State, is something which the separatist leaders should recall to mind. The Governor rightly said that people should understand they owe a debt of gratitude to the State which is doing all that it can for the welfare of the people and improvement of the quality of life. The Governor did not mince words while dealing with the efficiency and eminence of administrative structure. He said it was no use using divisive and diversionary tactics.
One can easily read between the lines of the Governor that he was loaded with anguish and disappointment at the deliverance of administration and justice to the people. In his opinion recurring agitations, hartals and closures have adversely affected functioning of public offices and educational institutions and disrupted trade, business, tourism and all economic activities. Sending a strong message to the elected representatives, political executive and entire spectrum of public services in the State, he said they should collectively ensure that the administration provides prompt, accountable, transparent and efficient services to the people.
This is perhaps a rare instance that the Governor of the State, who has had a long stint in the office and is one of the few persons who is so widely acquainted with the current history of the State, has come out with strong criticism of the policy and more importantly the separatists in the State for giving wrong signals to the people especially the youth. Unfortunately, the sense of feeling for the people of the State and progress and development of the State is becoming ineffective. He lamented that the polity has adopted the path of neither confrontation nor conciliation and that is to going to do any good to the State. Those who give calls for strikes and hartals are not aware of how much loss it means to the State. It is height of irresponsibility to allow the State face such huge and recurring losses. The Governor has minced no words in conveying that calls for strikes, and adopting disruptive and confrontational course are not going to yield the negative objectives of the miscreants. The State has to maintain law and order and nothing can be acceptable to the State that obstructs its move forward along the path of progress.
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