R. B SURI
Understanding the need of the hour in the post elections scenario of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, leadership of the PDP and the BJP joined their hands together and succeeded in forming the Coalition Government in the State. The Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn in by the Governor N. N Vohra on 1st March 2015. Since then, the Coalition Government is in place and functioning. It remained unstable for some time as the head of the Coalition Government made a very controversial statement stating therein that the Assembly elections in the State could be successfully completed by the support of Pakistan , separatists and hardcore anti India agencies existing in the Valley. From 18th March and onwards, it actually started functioning in the right perspective in accordance with the principles of the established parliamentary democracy like other states. In a decent way budget of the State for the Financial Year 2015-16 stands passed in the J and K Legislative Assembly which was presented by the Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu who is also a prominent economist of the country. It was his first budget. During the budget session, much heated debates over the Budget – 2015-16 were made by the legislators of the various opposition political parties in the Legislative Assembly as also during the various cut motions moved by the members of the Assembly while giving their nod to the passage of the departmental grants for the year 2015-16.
The financial mess created by the previous government is so bad that the old liabilities which entangled the BJP and PDP Coalition Government are more ten 9,500 crores of rupees. For putting the State back on the rails again, the the present Finance Minister will have to work very hard in neutralising the same as also thinking for generating other sources of revenue without applying the pressure on the Aam Admi of the State. Pertinent to mention here that during the currency of this Assembly session, there were two incidents of severe militant attacks at Samba and Raj Bagh Kathua in March this year which were condemned by the nation at large. On the contrary, series of meetings of the Hurriat leaders and the separatists were held by the Pakistan High Commissioner on his initiative in Pakistan Embassy at New Delhi on the eve of National Day of Pakistan . Separate invitations were issued to the leaders of the Valley ( who always oppose India tooth and nail ) by the Pakistan High Commission. The meetings continued for three consecutive days but what transpired over there could not be ascertained as yet. A MoS in the Union Cabinet Gen V.K Singh was the important functionary of the Union Government who attended the function arranged by the Pak High Commission at New Delhi which too was attended by the Hurriyat and separatists leaders of the Valley as well.
By applying the mind coolly , one can draw an impression that the Government of India has given free hand to the stake holders on the issue to act freely as it is determined to solve the Kashmir issue come what may as several times PM Modi has given the hint on this score and the Supremo of the BJP Amit Shah is on record that BJP will resolve the Kashmir issue during its tenure or in the event of its failure to do so will come out of the State Government. From the transactional analysis of the events in the past after this covernment came into power , it is on record that PDP is moving towards its mission but painful to observe that BJPs initiatives are to the minimum extent . At the same time there are certain compulsions for both the partners to carry on the state affairs. But the Mufti is on the plus side as compared to BJP which is maintaining low profile and has raised its feet from the ground and allowed to keep the same above the ground feeling helpless and waiting for the time to come to go with the direction of the air. During the budget session the Assembly witnessed the noisy scenes when the legislators of the BJP more were offenly seen protesting against the government for inaction in dealing with the ongoing militancy. As is evident from the actions and the deeds of both the coalition partners they were singing different tunes on the contentious issues of much significant importance such as AFSPA and WP/PoJK refugees issues and registering their protest in their own way in and out the Legislative Assembly.
Despite all these happenings, The Union Government is giving the out support to the Mufti Government in the State. During April this year Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and his senior colleague and the Finance Minister Dr. Hasseeb Drabu were in the national capital and had discussions with the PM and the Union Finance Minister Jaitley in getting the proposals of the State Government through in the shortest possible time
so that they can pass on the desired benefits to the affected people of the State. Its two way traffic was going on , the Chief Minister Mufti in his meeting with the Prime Minster Narender Modi at New Delhi had assured the PM that the State Government shall provide the required land for the establishment of ‘Composite Township’ in Kashmir for the KPs to settle permanently over there. At the same time, Union Government has asked the State Government for availing of the financial assistance from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other National Financial Institutions to improve upon the economic condition of the State.
Mufti after having remained under stress for a month or so in concentrating on the internal administrative issues of the government, now has been able to think on sparing some of his valuable time in inviting the people at the helm of affairs in Bollywood and big corporate to come to our State for making / shooting various films and establishing the industrial units as there is rich potential for the same. Needless to mention that after seeing and analysing the things, the opposition political parties are going into the field and organising the people at large against the inactions and misdeeds of the present Coalition Government. They alleged that both the Coalition Partners PDP and BJP have polarised the situation in the State for coming into power and their lust for power has exposed them before the people. Last week Mufti was at Mumbai and New Delhi on this score and had met personally the concerned people and got a good response from them. Another conclusive evidence is that the ministers of the Coalition Government have started visiting their respective constituencies and meeting the people at their door steps in understanding their problems so that the same can be solved on priority without any further delay.
These days, the Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh and other ministers are on tour to Jammu Division. This is a pointer towards the stability factor because of the reason that they are leaving their offices at the Civil Secretariat Srinagar and are in the field. Based on the above facts a prudent man can say that the Coalition Government has stabilised to certain extent and it would start delivering positive results in the days to come.