BLUNT BUTCHER
BJP ministers are behaving like Mitti Ke Madhav because they owe their new found status to most illogical agreement reached out with PDP by Ram Madhav.
JAMMU: There must be something terribly wrong with BJP flock in Mufti Sayeed led Coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir. They have abruptly turned lame duck despite holding executive positions. They have lost sheen and surrendered their esteem.
What can be more ironical than the fact that the day Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti assured Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh that the NDA Government would provide all support to PDP-BJP led Government for completion of Tawi artificial lake project in Jammu, Mufti Sayeed announced its burial. The tailpiece of the sordid episode was presence of the Deputy Chief Minister himself who did not utter a single word. He was sitting like a statue until the Mufti diverted to him a contentious question asked by a reporter on establishment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Jammu. He messed up with this question too by giving a vague answer about AIIMS like facility to be created in the winter capital.
The Deputy Chief Minister cannot plead innocence or ignorance about the decision taken on abandoning the lake project, which involves an expenditure of about Rs 90 crore. So far, Rs 60 crore has reportedly been incurred upon it. Mufti Sayeed is not competent enough to take a suo-motto decision on this vital project. The final call has to be taken by the Cabinet. If so, why didn’t the Deputy Chief Minister or the minister concerned, who too is from BJP, oppose the proposal? If at all such a decision has been taken in the Cabinet, why did Nirmal Singh take up the matter with Union Water Resources Minister? The functioning of the coalition seems to be a big puzzle, as far as the role of BJP is concerned. The PDP ministers are playing their act perfectly and with a ‘futuristic’ mission. They talk less and do more. In fact, they only talk more when it comes to the issues pertaining to the Jammu region.
The abandonment of the lake project speaks how shrewdly PDP is pursuing its anti-Jammu agenda. The Chief Minister is neither a professional nor a technocrat. Therefore, expecting him of having reached any conclusion about infeasibility of the project will be too much. He must have surely taken an expert advice. If so, how come the Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sukhnandan Choudhry of BJP had not been kept in loop? Are there different power centres in the coalition? Has a secret report been sought on the lake project before the Chief Minister made it public or it is just a whim of an individual which is thrust upon the people of Jammu? These are the questions which need answers, especially in the backdrop of Congress making a serious charge that the move might be aimed at appeasing Pakistan, which has objected to construction of the lake. The people have a reason to ask why the Coalition Government is lacking the collective responsibility. This happened in the case of Masarat Alam’s release too, which though a subject concerning the Home Ministry involved sensitivity in terms of its likely fall out on the overall law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequent events proved it beyond any doubt.
It was disgusting to see the Deputy Chief Minister or the Minister of State for Information not countering the Chief Minister on a vital issue like the lake project, which the former himself ascribes as dream project of Jammuties. They got perhaps mesmerised by the dream of landscaping Tawi banks in lieu of the artificial lake project. They demonstrated their lack of comprehension about the aspirations of the Jammu people. It is not a simple question of executing or abandoning a project; it is all about the aspirations of the people of this unfortunate part of the State.
Nirmal Singh’s sojourn to New Delhi in panic and subsequent meeting with the Union Water Resources Minister speaks about lack of guts in the BJP ministers. Can’t they oppose anti people, anti-State and anti-Jammu policies being pursued by the senior coalition partner? They have been completely overawed by the PDP and the Chief Minister. They are just like ornamental pieces in what is called PDP-BJP Government. They have brought disrepute to a cadre based party which once roared like lion in its Jana Sangh Avatar. They have inflicted a big dent to the Dogra pride. They have betrayed the huge trust reposed by the Duggarland in them. They are behaving like Mitti Ke Madhav; may be because they owe their new found status as ‘Honourable Ministers’ to most illogical and ill-thought agreement reached out with PDP by all powerful BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav.
