DOST KHAN
Jammu: Ahead of polls and in the midst of campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir, an influential section of the Congress virtually lobbed a bomb-shell by pitching for a Hindu Chief Minister. The demand, coming from a so-called secular national party, generated lot of debate within and outside the State and the issue continues to make rounds notwithstanding exit polls predicting doom for Congress on a massive scale.
Supposed to have been a BJP plank, especially after unprecedented and unexpected sweep in parliamentary elections in Jammu and Ladakh regions, the Hindu Chief Minister slogan was hijacked by the Congress to outwit arch rivals in the Assembly elections. The BJP leadership was put on defensive and they had to clarify at the top level that Chief Ministership issue should be left to the choice of elected members.
The demand raised within Congress ranks could not be brushed aside as just rhetoric or a gimmick, as the party derived its strength from the Jammu region. Not only now but earlier also, Jammu had been a strong Congress bastion giving most of the legislators, after National Conference plunged in the election politics post Indira-Sheikh Accord. Earlier elections lacked credibility and many of the legislators used to be known for their ‘creation’ by particular Deputy Commissioners, especially in the Valley.
If the calculations being made after analysing ground reports are taken into consideration together with exit poll predictions, the Congress finds itself on a marshy wicket. The party leadership will have to explain many questions; especially about chronic infighting it is suffering at the top level, which may turn out to be a major reason for the Congress not to withstand Modi magic. Though the apex leadership managed a united face publicly but even non-Congress entities know how uncomfortable they are with each other. The Prime Minister was not off the mark in commenting that the Congress was fighting for a hung Assembly to ensure its role in the government formation. That is what it has been doing since 2002, again due to bickering within top leadership. Since 2002, the second-fiddle syndrome within Congress has deepened with all the small timers from Jammu nurturing the ambition of becoming Deputy Chief Minister, no matter the government is led by National Conference or the PDP. It may appear incredible but the fact remains that during high pitch demand for change of guard in 2011, a strong lobby sabotaged the move at the apex level because of vested interest. In nutshell, Congress has not traversed beyond the syndrome of playing second fiddle to Kashmir centric politicians. The era of stalwarts like Girdhari Lal Dogra and Pandit Trilochan Dutt is over in Jammu politics. They were the stalwarts dictating terms as also fighting for the cause of Jammu. Now the command is in the hands of newer generation of Congressmen who always remain in competitive race for being in good books of their Kashmiri masters.
Now, finding itself fallen from grace, Congress will have to reassert and strive for lost political space in a choked atmosphere, even if it manages to get into government formation because of number-deficit of the big brother from Kashmir-whosoever it is. Benefit to a chosen few incumbent ministers will not compensate the big loss party has undergone in the recent year. Being in government will in no way put the Congress at a place which it enjoyed during the past seven decades. There has to be serious re-thinking. The ‘ideologues’ within Congress, who have been talking about discrimination with the Jammu region by successive Kashmir-centric governments or raising the pitch for Hindu Chief Minister, can at least begin the charity from home itself. If the party derives support from Jammu region, why it has always shied to have a Hindu Pradesh Congress President? Having one from the Hindu community can prove a morale booster for the party, which will find its ranks falling apart in the wake of debacle that is knocking at its doors. Time has come for the younger leaders of Congress to seek a Hindu Pradesh President. This will not dilute its so-called secular character. This is what they will have to convince all powerful Sonia Gandhi and her Vice President son Rahul Gandhi. Sooner the better!
