Politics takes center-stage as parties eye 2014 elections

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 8: With an eye on vote bank as both Parliament and Assembly elections were due next year, political parties virtually converted 37 days long budget session of the Legislature into a “political battlefield” instead of a forum for debating issues of the common man and solving their problems.
Political observers, who keenly watched the entire budget session, opined that both ruling partners as well as Opposition did whatever suited them politically and the issues of general public took a back seat though Speaker Mubarak Gul repeatedly advised the members to highlight public grievances instead of frequently raking up the political issues.
It was for the first time in the past 17 years when the Legislative Assembly was revived in 1996 after a prolonged spell of President’s rule after 1990 that the Assembly session went on without two major Opposition parties-the PDP and BJP for quite a long period. On its part, the Government too didn’t make any “serious attempt” to call back the Opposition parties as it was suiting National Conference-Congress coalition Government to quite an extent.
The PDP left the House on March 13 i.e. within 14 days of the start of 37 days long session protesting Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s statement refusing to handover the body of 2001 Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru to his family in Sopore. The BJP left the House six days later after its State president, Jugal Kishore Sharma was suspended for remaining part of the session due to “aggressive postures” towards Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo.
Though the Government made no attempt to call back the BJP except for a normal appeal to three members other than Mr Sharma to come back, it left decision on return of the PDP to Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Assembly, which authorized first time Minister Saifullah Mir (Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs).
Political observers were of the view that instead of making general appeals to the PDP to return, an all party delegation should have been sent to persuade the Opposition to come back to the House to make the proceedings more healthier and credible as, on many occasions, the Assembly looked like Legislature Party meeting of National Conference and Congress especially when the NPP, JSM and BJP breakaway group also staged walk-out.
The National Conference virtually succeeded in raking up the political issues like return of Afzal Guru’s remains, partial revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and arrest of Liyaqat Shah by New Delhi Police as it suited the ruling party politically. In all three issues, the Congress suffered the most as it was their party led UPA Government, which was under target of NC including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah himself on the three issues.
The political observers were of the view that the NC did manage to benefit at the cost of Congress, which appeared to be in no mood to annoy its ruling coalition partner. After getting a snub from Higher Education Minister and former Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone that it was free to withdraw the support, the Congress maintained silence on most of the occasions when the NC leaders were targeting the Centre especially the Union Home Minister on the issue of Guru, Liyaqat Shah and withdrawal of AFSPA.
The political observers were of the view that the PDP might have gained some political mileage in Kashmir by boycotting the Assembly session in support of its demand for return of mortal remains of Guru, it bailed out the coalition Government for most part of the session by abstaining itself as the Government had a smooth sailing in the House for remaining 24 days of the session after the PDP left.
“The PDP could have cornered the Government very effectively inside the House on a host of issues that cropped up after its “permanent walk-out” after March 13. The PDP was in a formidable position to take on the Government. It could have effectively projected the issues inside the House, which it tried to did outside the House in the form of press conferences and public meetings,” the observers opined.
Almost similar was the case of BJP. The observers, however, justified the BJP decision on the ground that the House didn’t revoke suspension of Jugal Kishore, a demand on which the party had left the House. They were of the view that Mr Kishore’s suspension should have been revoked after a couple of days “but it seemed the NC-Congress coalition was happy to run the House without the two major Opposition parties”.
The observers were of the view that while the National Conference was effectively projecting its issues like return of Guru’s mortal remains, release of Liyaqat Shah and partial withdrawal of AFSPA, the Congress miserably failed to rake up the issues of Jammu’s development, discrimination, setting up of Delimitation Commission and the killing of a Jammu girl in Agra and Chamel Singh.
It was the NPP, JSM and BJP breakaway group, which were left along to rake up these issues in the Assembly. Even these parties didn’t raise the murder of Jammu’s girl in Agra.
Though Congress harped on the issue of Delimitation Commission, discrimination in allocation of funds to Jammu and development of the region during the elections, it was rather seen opposing the demand of Delimitation Commission when it was taken up by Jammu based Opposition MLAs. During the tenure of Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress had openly supported the demand of Delimitation Commission and, at one stage, Mr Azad had mulled a proposal of 25 per cent increase in Assembly seats of three regions.
Worst traffic chaos in Jammu City and construction of Fly Overs on BC Road, Canal Road and Bikram Chowk were taken up just once by Prof Chaman Lal Gupta while the Congress maintained mysterious silence on these major problems of Jammu region.
The political observers were of the view that at least the Congress MLAs during the debates should have defended the decisions taken by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde especially on Afzal Guru as he was a terrorist involved in attack on Parliament and his mercy petition had been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
“All stakeholders in the execution of Afzal Guru, arrest of Liyaqat Shah and refusal to withdrawal of AFSPA were Congress leaders ranging from Defence Minister AK Antony to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. However, the Congress leaders miserably watched their top leaders coming under attack from their major coalition partner (the National Conference) helplessly,” the observers lamented.
They said the National Conference-Congress were “badly exposed” on the issue of passing the Kashmiri Hindu Shrines Management and Protection bill by favouring that it should be sent to the Select Committee. “The two parties did no good. The bill would have healed the wounds of Kashmiri Pandits, who had been suffering after their migration in 1989. It could have given a positive message to the community that the Government was ready to yield to their demands,” they added.
The “non-serious approach” of the members of all political parties towards the Assembly could be well gauged from the fact that on a number of occasions Speaker Mubarak Gul and Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni had to adjourn the House due to lack of quorum. The shortage of quorum means that even 23 members were not present in the House of 89 on many occasions.
The Congress infighting also came to the fore during the Assembly session with PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Sharma and Medical Education Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din openly trading charges on backdoor appointments in the PHE.
The observers were of the view that in addition to Delimitation Commission, Discrimination and Development, the Congress also paid no attention to the demand of its vote bank-the West Pakistani and PoK refugees even though the BJP breakaway group, NPP and JSM raked up the issue on many occasions.
The Assembly session was definitely stormy till the PDP was in the House and it witnessed a rare drama on March 12 when many MLAs jumped atop the tables, three benches and mikes with PDP protesting on Guru issue and Jammu based Opposition countering them with Chamel Singh issue. After that, it was virtually normal business as the PDP boycotted the remaining session on March 13.
The observers lamented that in view of gaining political mileage keeping with an eye on Parliament and Assembly elections next year, almost all political parties deviated from the genuine issues faced by the people and concentrated only on those issues, which could benefit them politically.

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