SYED ALI SAFVI
SRINAGAR, Nov 27: Even as chief minister, Omar Abdullah, today gave detailed resume of functioning of coalition government to UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, at New Delhi, back home fissures within the coalition government have started to widen again.
The street battles may have shown signs of diminishing, but political battle between the coalition partners – National Conference (NC) and Congress – has once again started hogging headlines after five-month hiatus.
Since the formation of the coalition government, the two parties have often been at loggerheads on different issues ranging from Indus Water Treaty (IWT) to Kashmir’s accession, and now, much-touted rehabilitation policy, aimed at the return of Kashmiri militants from across the border.
Even as Congress ministers have maintained absolute silence over the issue, some of the party stalwarts expressed their disappointment over the decision, fearing a certain political backlash in Jammu region.
“The decision has directly gone in favour of NC,” said a senior JKPCC member. “It seems our ministers have been caught napping by the coalition partner.”
At times the coalition partners have preferred silence, but most of the times they have openly and publicly criticized each other.
On November 25, 2010 senior NC legislator and former minister, Dr Mustafa Kamal, had accused New Delhi of betraying Kashmiris.
“The accords and promises made by Delhi were never kept. They always backstabbed us,” he had said while addressing the party activists at Nawa-e Subha here. “New Delhi is equally responsible for introducing gun culture in Kashmir.”
However, Kamal’s remarks didn’t go down well with the state Congress unit. Vice president of JKPCC, Ghulam Nabi Monga, said that the statement had been deliberately issued to create cracks fissures within the coalition government.
“Dr Kamal has forgotten the 1975 historic accord signed between his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,” Monga had said. “Such remark will definitely affect smooth functioning of the coalition government in the future.”
Pertinently, Kamal’s nephew and the state chief minister, Omar Abdullah, had in his October 6 speech in the state legislative assembly said that J&K had “acceded to India under unique circumstances and it had not merged with India.”
Senior Congressmen at New Delhi had supported Omar’s statement, however, state Congress unit chief and head of J&K coordination committee, Saif-ud-Din Soz, strongly reacted to the chief minister’s remarks.
“I advise the young Omar to go through the book of his grandfather,” he had said while addressing a public meeting at Dayalachak in Kathua district. “Sheikh had, in fact, rejected two-nation theory prior to 1947 when he had a meeting with Jinnah at the latter's residence in Delhi as recorded in his autobiography 'Aatish-e-Chinar.”
A series of verbal fights had ensued between senior NC and Congress leaders on different platforms in the past. It had all started when union minister and president NC, Farooq Abdullah, had, at a function, targeted bete-noire People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for attacking NC and not Congress over the issue of Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
Farooq’s statement had not gone down well with Congress leaders, who were annoyed with senior Abdullah’s “unacceptable” statement.
If Farooq’s statement was not enough to upset the NC-Congress bonhomie, soon his brother and MLA Hazratbal, Dr Mustafa Kamal, and NC Member Parliament, Mehboob Beg, jumped on the band wagon, only to make the matters worse.
After situation seemed to be slipping out of control, it was left to Farooq to do much needed damage control exercise.
Farooq asserted that the two leaders were not eligible to issue statements on behalf of the party. Brushing aside reports of cracks in the coalition, Farooq said that the coalition government in the state was working in close harmony and there were no differences between the partners.
Miffed over NC leadership’s assault on Congress, senior Congress leader and former minister, Abdul Gani Vakil, known for his PDP bashing, cautioned the chief minister against the activities of some elements trying to weaken the coalition government.
The chief minister chipped in and on May 20 urged NC activists to strengthen the bond of NC-Congress coalition at grass root level.
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