The National Conference has patched up with its restive legislators. That matters, because a region already strained by divided authority cannot afford another political fracture.
Jammu and Kashmir is already governed in an awkward way. Power is shared between an elected Chief Minister and a Lieutenant Governor. Authority is blurred. So is responsibility. Citizens feel the cost in slow decisions and unanswered demands. This is a governance strain, and it is not small.
In recent weeks, the strain has spread into politics. Agha Ruhullah, the party’s MP, resigned over a political issue and left the National Conference. Soon after, a group of legislators went public with their own grievances. A memorandum was circulated. A deadline was set. For a few days, Kashmir seemed to be drifting towards a deeper crisis.
The party has done well to talk. On November 6, legislators walked into Gupkar as dissidents and left standing behind Dr Farooq Abdullah. The leadership listened. It conceded that concerns should have reached it earlier. It promised that work on each issue would begin within a week. Some steps may come within days. This is how a mature party behaves. It heard its own people before they became its opponents.
None of this means the problems are solved. The legislators raised real matters: manifesto promises on statehood and Article 370, the spending of public money, and the role of the Chief Minister’s advisor. Cabinet space is capped at nine, and every chair is taken. Assurances must now become action. A calendar of six months to a year is only a promise, and promises are judged by delivery. The party must not let goodwill harden into delay.
Others will not share the relief. Some outside the party were keen to see the crisis deepen. They hoped for a split, a weakened government and a vacuum. Kashmir knows how such vacuums are filled. They are rarely filled by those who serve the people.
Kashmir cannot afford this. Its people want jobs, services, dignity and a voice. They cannot wait while elected representatives fight each other. Every week of infighting is a week lost to governance. A divided ruling party would leave the elected government weaker still, at a time when it needs all its strength to be heard. Stability is not a luxury. It is the ground on which everything else is built
The National Conference carries a mandate. Its legislators carry it too. Both must remember that. Dissent is healthy when raised inside the party. Discipline is healthy when it follows listening. The leadership should keep its word. The legislators should give it room to do so.
Kashmir needs steady hands now, not another crisis.
