Zamir Ahmad
Jammu and Kashmir is considered to be the most politically sensitive region in the sub-continent not only because of its tumultuous history but also because politics is the only industry here in which everybody has an avowed equal stake. To manage and run the affairs of such a state whose past is fractured, present is mired and future is uncertain, is no mean a task. It needs a person with qualities of both head and heart to perform such a herculean task.
The 2008 state assembly elections were considered a watershed event in the recent electoral history. Not only was the voter turnout unexpectedly quite high, even the number of contesting candidates contesting raised quite a few eyebrows. Observers, then, opined that the exceedingly large number of candidates indicated a shift in the Centre’s policy of rigging the elections to ‘managing’ them in order to hoistfavorites upon the people. The results, therefore, had to be on expected lines and by the time elections were over, it had become clear that the oldest party of the state was poised for a comeback. The only silver lining in the whole episode was that J&K was, perhaps for the first time, getting a Chief Minister who had a clean image and was not seen as corrupt. The assumptions were that the exuberance of youth and the integrity of character may steady the winds in his favour and he may be able to sail through smoothly.
It seems, but, more , rather much more, was needed. First and most important was a wise counsel. Notwithstanding the fact that the Chief Minister, by his own admission, had baptism by fire, immediately after he took over by way of the Bomai incident, he did not seem to have learnt his lessons in statecraft. One incident after another further weakened his image as an able handler of difficult situations. Though forthright in his admissions and candid about his failures, his nemesis lied in lending himself to the unwise counsel of all and sundry.
The ‘institution of advisors’ was, perhaps, the first casuality. Pray how can you justify the appointment of a person as your political advisor who was a recent inductee into the politics? And who was seen as an outsider by even your partymen? What kind of a counsel was expected of him in matters related especially to the Kashmir region. And pray what was the haste in removing the economic advisor to the previous government; an acclaimed person not only in his own field but having a strategic insight into the matters related to governance? The amends made thereafter for assuaging the political aspirations of the stalwarts in the parts, were as horrendous.As a result the team of advisors surrounding the young turk alienated him not only from masses but from reality as well.
On the ground level, things were much more alarming. The NC workers including their legislators celebrated their comeback with vengeance. Instead of empathizing with people’s woes, they seemed to convey a message of ‘victory’ over the public at large. Disgust and further alienation was an obvious outcome that only needed a vent.
Talking of governance and development in a state like ours is an exercise in futility and does not break much ice with people. Principally because most of the governments so far have failed in keeping their promises on this front for obvious purposes. The resource constraint, their exploitation by the centre, rampant corruption in all ranks of the government and most importantly the political uncertainty have so far ensured the late arrival of the development train into our valley. Creative solutions to our problems, political or otherwise, cannot come from political novices or financial nobodys.Also, maintaining a right balance with the central government in the great power games is the primary requisite for any head of the government in J&K. Having failed in getting a proper grasp over matters, the Chief Minister let the situation drift steadily out of his control. He was led to live in a make believe world wherein his advisors were all praise for his PowerPoint skills. The latent heat of unsolved issues and pent up aspirations could no longer reach him. And once the lid over the apparent placidity was blown, his weakness lay bare open. Right from blaming the opposition for unrest in the valley to admonishing the youth for their protests to larger handling of the situation, he was seen waddling haplessly in the quagmire of his own making.
Today, he is being made a scape goat for all the mess in Kashmir. And while he takes responsibility of all the bad decisions made in the last few weeks, it his but common knowledge as to who runs the show here. In his public appearances, he is no longer flanked by his advisors. The centre decides who hovers around him and who does not. His movements are orchestratred by the mandarins in the north block. His father’s sudden flight into the state was enough an indication of his vulnerability and his father’s usability in the eyes of the centre.
The recent utterances of the Chief Minister if on the one hand still reinforce the belief about his forthrightness, they also revalidate the notions about his naivete in handling his people, his party, his government and of course the government at the centre. In all this he seems to be pretty confused himself. While admitting the recent events were a huge setback to him personally and politically he is still harping upon the good governance bogey and asking his officers to conduct public durbars.
If he doesnot want to go down in the history as an incompetent Chief Minister, he will have to reassess his position vis-?-vis his party, his men and undeniably vis-?-vis his position on the great imbroglio called Kashmir.
