Good Morning India:Good Luck, Omar Abdullah

Media Pulse

In the recent weeks ever since Farooq decided to hand over the mantle of leadership of the party to Omar, the Chief Minister has launched a tirade against the Centre, accusing it of treating him shabbily. He argues that while he had done all he could to ensure the Kashmiri mindset is pro-India, he has been let down by the Vajpayee-led government on many occasions. Farooq has been hard-hitting on the Sangh outfits on the Ayodhya controversy and did not mince words over his pain over the Gujarat happenings.

What has particularly annoyed the Chief Minister is the PMO efforts to build a bridge with the all party Hurriyat Conference, in an effort to persuade the 23-party conglomerate to participate in the elections. With the West watching the holding of the polls, the Centre is keen that a semblance of free and impartial election is kept. This is not possible if the only participating party is the ruling National Conference. Even at the last time of elections, there were wide-spread charges of rigging and forcible voting by people at gunpoint by the security forces.

Wiser since then, the Centre has through the Chief Election Commissioner conveyed the message that all efforts will be made for free elections. The CEC has also clarified that the security forces will not be allowed to coerce people into going up to the voting booths. The Election Commission has also permitted foreign envoys to watch the polls in their individual capacity.and not as diplomatic observers.

The challenge for Omar Abdullah will be to see that the poll process is smooth and unhindered by the militant groups. The aggressive tone of the CM and Omar is seen in the context of the National Conference effort to tell the Kashmiris that it was not an appendage of the BJP-led NDA. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seems to have offered devolution of more powers to Kashmir in response to the demand for autonomy raised by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah. After an hour-long meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence, Omar Abdullah claimed , "The Prime Minister assured us that he was willing to hold discussions on devolution of more powers to the State and I will take this assurance back to my party and chalk out the future course of action.’’ On the other hand, Farooq Abdullah only said, ‘‘I had come to introduce the Prime Minister to our new president of the party.’’ He denied that the PM had offered him any berth in the Union Cabinet. However, Omar Abdullah said he had expressed to the PM his inability to do justice to his two positions. Asked pointedly if he had offered to resign from his post as Union Minister, Omar clarified, ‘‘I told the Prime Minister that I will not be able to do justice to both the jobs and I could neither be of any major help to him (Vajpayee) nor to Jaswant Singhji.’’

Omar, however did not comment on the Minister of State for Home I. D. Swami’s statement that the Centre would not restore the pre-1953 status to the State. The NC has been often accused of trying to scuttle any Central move for talks with the separatist groups. The autonomy issue has been interpreted as a plank to derail talks with the Hurriyat leadership. A piqued Omar retorted ‘‘I have already offered my home as the venue for holding such talks. How much more support does one need? We are in favour of more and more separatist leaders joining the electoral polls.’’ The NC considers the Hurriyat as subversives, deriving moral and financial support from Islamabad to give a fillip to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah , meanwhile, has ruled out the possibility of deferring Assembly polls, scheduled to be held before October 14 when the term of the present Assembly expires. "No, why should we defer polls. Where does the need arise," Abdullah commented. "There is no need for deferment of elections in the state as no catastrophe has struck nor any natural disaster has taken place," Abdullah pointed out after the meeting with the Prime Minister.