The Chief Minister has been addressing the public from a very high podium that is enshrouded in traditional party myths and beliefs and as long as he does walk out of the thick aired polity and breathe in some fresh Valley air, he may never be able to understand what is wrong with the masses here. If the Chief Minister or for that matter any one with administrative concerns wishes to understand the present imbroglio, he should first aspire to find consonance with the verbs and not adjectives. As long as the governing r?gime spins an apriori air around itself it would never be able to comprehend, leave alone the question of containing, the situation.
The Chief Minister who, some time back, said that he understands the pain that the twin victims of rape followed by slaughter in Shopian is the one who seems to be most distant from the incident, for he was the one who resolutely stated that the victims were his sisters and that the perpetrators of this heinous crime would be penalized at the earliest possible. Yet after weeks and weeks of waiting on and on nothing worthy of being deemed as justice delivered has come about, and that does not by any means excuse his office of the gargantuan task that it is entrusted with – primarily that of safeguarding the lives of the people of the state. The Chief Minister is the elected representative of the State and therefore the statements he makes have a definitive bearing on the future of Kashmir as also on the various power structures that work under his office. I would say the power structures around and under the Chief Minister have well adopted the demeanor exhibited by the chief executive towards his people. All that has unfolded in Kashmir in the aftermath of the Shopian incident on the administrative indices speaks volumes about it.
The present governing r?gime is more concerned about tackling the situation via a buoyant impressionist method rather than piquant and objective handling of matters. The Chief Minister while addressing the media fraternity, a few days ago, said that the people should give up their present candor and that they should opt for something else. The Chief Minister somehow missed on the fact that his is a serious office and it should provide options and not opinions to the masses.
Some people say that the present Chief Minister of the State is weighed down by the shoes he has slipped into. Some say that there is no resonance between the office of the Chief Minister and all the others which run under it. Others say that the Chief Minister is too busy proving himself unto himself. The Chief Minister himself says that he may be punished if he is wrong. But no matter what is said, the people of Kashmir need their dreams back, pronto, lest the present commotion may achieve the dimensions of a social catastrophe which will leave no scope for anyone occupying high chairs.
