Wednesday GK Column: NC-PDP: Kashmir Centricity Failure to work out a legislative majority within Kashmir centric political sphere would mean violating the sanctity of public mandate CRUCIAL DR. JAVID IQBAL Kashmir centricity of regional parties will be severely tested in post poll scenario, particularly in a hung assembly. People have voted for Kashmir centricity, which implies a working partnership of Kashmir centric parties, notwithstanding their differences. Moreover the differences are personality centric, otherwise NC’s autonomy or PDP’s self rule plank in essence amounts to two sides of the same coin. Psephology is not my cup of tea; hence I could not venture to predict results, before they were actually out. However varied conjectures could be projected to state the widely held public perception. Now that both PDP or NC are well short of 44+, failure to work out a legislative majority within Kashmir centric political sphere would mean violating the sanctity of public mandate. In case of either of the two regional parties would have attained 44+ and formed government on its own, still on Kashmir centric issues, they needed to be on the same page to retain the sanctity of the mandate. Kashmir centricity may not be taken to imply valley centric. It means holding the interests of Jammu and Kashmir State paramount. Besides the valley, Jammu and Kashmir has large Kashmiri speaking areas on other side of Pir Panchal. That forms the overwhelming majority of the state. Other ethnicities, linguistic or otherwise need to be provided due weightage. Due weightage, however, may not be taken to mean minority overriding the majority interests, be it political or economic. Insistence on parallel narratives representing minority interests may be a recipe for fragmentation, however unlikable it may be. Mutually beneficial relationship has to be the mantra, if JK state has to retain its present form. Vis-à-vis regional parties, people in spite of voting for them have reservations, as their Kashmir centricity is poorly spelt. Regional parties—NC and PDP endorse accession, as much as all India parties—Congress and BJP, hence they could be labeled as accessionists. Subtle differences though are projected, pointing to quantum of accession. NC in addition is on record as having stated on the floor of legislative assembly that accession does not amount to merger [refer Omar Abdullah’s speech in 2010], however, NC and PDP believe in finality of accession. And finality implies irreversibility; call of no merger provides a cosmetic touch to the fundamental take. Neither of regional parties calls accession conditional, hence their plea for conflict resolution lacks thrust. If accession is final, there is no dispute, and if there is no dispute, what is the conflict about and where is the need for resolution? Yet, PDP and NC pronounce Kashmir centricity and pedal soft separatism by political semantics. Is it mere skulduggery, a façade or regional parties want to prove to the electorate—the people who voted for them that their Kashmir centricity is real? The reality would face a tough test in the days to come, it has to be much more than skin deep. While both regional parties support irrevocability of accession, their plea of Indo-Pak dialogue to settle Kashmir may not be that important. Kashmir dispute for regional parties is an issue to be settled within the Indian constitution, hence their plea for Indo-Pak dialogue is at best meant to be a diktat of ground facts, as they visualize through a narrow prism. Ground facts are multi-centric. PDP like no-merger-take of NC has gone a shade further to convince the electorate of their Kashmir centricity. Their plea for intra-Kashmir link-up across LoC has more of an economic content than posing political challenge of any sort. Whatever the intent, ever since LoC trade took off, over the years it has still to settle exchange rates. It continues to be the ilk of barter trade of ancient ages, and remains limited to twenty odd items. Cross LoC trade pales in comparison to Indo-Pak trade through direct or indirect channels. Dubai route is often quoted as an indirect channel. PDP if it forms the next government on its own or becomes a major stakeholder in a coalition has to prove to the electorate that their Kashmir centric push carries a political message. On similar grounds, if NC has a role to play, it has to prove its Kashmir centricity by holding on to its projected view that accession does not imply merger. Both PDP and NC have to walk the talk; the past though is a poor reflection of their deeds. NC and PDP in representation of Kashmir centricity have failed the electorate repeatedly. NC’s autonomy resolution passed by an absolute majority was summarily rejected by Vajpayee regime. A regime many in regional political stream as well as some amongst freedomists like to bracket with ‘Insaniyat’ has had no hesitation in doing so, still NC aligned with it. In the days to come, the defrauded electorate would scrutinize the party further. Even a hint of aligning with BJP in its new no holds barred RSS garb could be a total dilution of Kashmir centricity. If NC has faulted time and again, so has PDP. Top brass of PDP leadership has in the past facilitated the erosion of article 370 to the extent, where it is unrecognizable in its original form. Both the regional parties may thank their stars that once bitten twice shy does not hold true in Kashmir…there is room for introspection! Yaar Zinda, Sohbat Baqi [Reunion is subordinate to survival] Feedback on: iqbal.javid46@gmail
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 16:23:27 +0000
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