Y V Sharma
The White paper issued by Dr Farooq Abdullah recently, in response to the speech by the Home Minister of India during his very successful recent visit to J&K makes for a very interesting reading. He has published a list of the achievements while he & Omar Abdullah were the CMs of J&K plus Ladakh. Incidentally, what was the bottom line of the Home Minister’s speech? His speech encompassed all kinds of corruption- political, economic &to top it all the corruption in the form of discrimination meted out to other two regions of the erstwhile J&K state resorted to by a couple of political families of J&K. The discrimination against other two regions of the state started from 1947 itself. The foundation & edifice of the new truncated state of J&K, after a sizeable portion of it was grabbed by the newly created nation named Pakistan, was laid by Sheikh Abdullah on the fundamental principles of discrimination with other two regions& deceit with whosoever came his way for fulfillment of his nefarious design. He ensured, by creating an environment of instability in the state through his evil political maneuvering that he & eventually his family & followers enjoyed the fruits of his adroit cleverness& his ability to throw dust into the eyes of several Congress leaders of the independent India especially Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, NC kept the pot of separatism boiling under the protective garb of the temporary article 370 of the Indian constitution & used it to hilt to create communal divide in the state & disaffection amongst the people. NC created tools, most famous of which was Plebiscite Front& many of its affiliates, to ensure that there was no let up in fomenting resistance &ill will towards the Indian state. The unabated bloodletting of the innocent & gullible Kashmiris & others to-date is a result of this policy of the Kashmir centric political parties. An in-depth analysis will show that they harmed Kashmir & Kashmiris no end while enjoying pelf & power for themselves.
Now consider the following acts of the NC regime since 1947: While the ‘autocratic’ Maharaja Hari Singh fairly allocated 16 electable seats to Kashmir & 17 to Jammu in the Praja Sabha, elections to which were held in 1934, the Government of ‘democratic & secular’ Sheikh Abdullah arbitrarily ‘disbursed’ 43 seats to Kashmir province & 30 to Jammu province in the Constituent Assembly of J&K. Two seats were given to Ladakh. Elections to the constituent assembly were held in Aug – Sept 1951. These elections were rigged by the politico-administrative machinery of the Sheikh &all the 75 seats of the Constituent Assembly went to his party. This ‘forcefully manufactured majority’ was used by Sheikh to blackmail the Indian State in its case at the UN & was the first step by the ‘democratic’ Sheikh Abdullah to shift the balance of power unfairly to Kashmir though the population of Jammu & Kashmir provinces was 20.01 lakh & 17.29 lakh respectively as per the census of 1941. Therein started an era of acrimony, instability & deception in the polity &power structure of the unfortunate state of J&K leading it to corruption of its mind, body & soul. While at the incipient stage the foundations of the new state should have been laid on sound principles of administration &justice but these laudable objectives were not only given a short shrift but also looked upon in contempt. Fast forward to 1987, the elections were once again rigged by the NC party & the consequences are for everyone to see. That is not all the leadership of NC too dabbled with the terrorists believing that there would be no harm ‘in making hay while the sun shone’. They were instrumental in sending the youth across the border for armed training with an advice that ‘they should not be caught by the (Governor) Jagmohan’s security forces’. NC released dangerous terrorists from the prisons in 1989 against the advice of the security forces & even against the advisory committee headed by High Court judge, who eventually became the standard bearers of the bloody separatist movement in Kashmir. This atrocious & callous attitude & non serious behaviour, while in Government or out of it, on the part of NC pushed the sensitive & strategically located erstwhile state of J&K in particular & the country in general into a tailspin for last three decades that its only the foresightedness of the leadership of Narendra Modi & Amit Shah that is enabling some sort of check on terrorism, economic development of the UT of J&K & also showing signs of recovery of morass that had set into its administrative machinery. Modi’s mantra of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ is catching up with people of J&K. Recent rallies of Amit Shah at Rajouri & Baramulla are a testimony to it. Left to NC & its INC friends the state would already have been passed over under the ‘Musharraf Plan’, but the politically astute & mature people of the India ensured that such mischievous dispensations are bundled out of power so that the reigns of the country come into the hands of honest, caring, forthright& totally focused personality like Narendra Modi who has nothing but the interest of the Nation at his heart & mind.
Dr Farooq mentions that NC Govt provided Universities, Medical Colleges, Engineering Colleges& Degree Colleges in the state, but he conveniently forgets that the University, Engineering & Medical Colleges for Jammu region were sanctioned only after huge protests by the people of Jammu, especially the students. The memorials in front of the Science College in Jammu to the three students who got killed while protesting for University at Jammu & other memorial at Kishtwar are a proof to the sacrifices made by Jammuites for these elementary demands. Contrast it with the IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, tunnels on national highway, Jammu bye pass & a network of modern roads that have come or are coming up both in Kashmir & Jammu. The work on connectivity of Kashmir & various places in Jammu through railways is also moving at a fast pace. Srinagar airport handled a record number of 104 flights on a single day indicating the rise in tourist traffic to the valley.
Dr Farooq also mentions about construction of Uri, Salal & Dul Hasti power houses, but conveniently forgets that these power houses were built by NHPC which is a central power utility under the Ministry of Power, Government of India. In the same breath, he conveniently forgets to mention that the Upper Sindh Hydroelectric project built with a capacity of 105 MW doesn’t even produce 50 per cent of its capacity since the day of its inauguration. Similarly, Cheneni, Canal, Ganderbal & Mohura power stations, all in state sector, were conveniently allowed to go down & under with skeletal or nil power generation from these power houses. The present dispensation is trying to revive these power stations but once the systems are allowed to rot for decades it becomes difficult to bring them back to life. The NC government never showed any interest in developing tourism sector in Jammu. They never allowed the heritage complexes of Jammu region to come on the national & international tourism map. Mubarak Mandi complex, the seat of Dogra power, that was witness to the creation of the magnificent J&K state by the Dogra kings was ravaged & obliterated ensuring that it becomes a symbol of victory for the ‘quit Kashmir movement’ launched by NC in 1946. So was the case with several forts & monuments dotting the landscape of Jammu region which could have turned into major tourist attractions. Areas in other Districts of Jammu region that could have been developed as tourist hub for national & international tourists were left to fend for themselves. A closer look at the funds allocated by their governments for Kashmir & Jammu region for development of tourism is a giveaway. Coming to development of power sector again. I am specifically picking up this sector because it is the backbone of development of any region in a state or a country. Out of total potential of 20,000 MW envisaged for J&K the major share of around 17,000 MW is from River Chenab flowing through the Jammu region. Since the Kashmir centric politicians ruled the state for most of the period fter independence they took no interest in development of this sector. UJH project that could have generated power & irrigated 30000 hectors of agricultural land in Kathua District was just forgotten. Similarly they took no interest in the development of power transmission & distribution network in erstwhile Doda & Rajouri/Poonch Districts. While they pushed the GoI to construct the 400 KV Jalandhar – Samba – Amargarh transmission line via Mughal Road claiming that they shall build 400 KV Grid station at Rajouri/Siot& associated network to cater to the electricity needs of this region, but they forgot about the Rajouri/Poonch Districts &instead took power supply straight to Amargarh to cater to the power needs in the Kashmir province. And then what did they do for erstwhile Doda District that is fast turning out to be the hub of hydel generation? This region is fed by a 1986 vintage transmission line that can supply power to the tune of only 65/70 MW while as the winter peak load requirement of these areas has risen to 140 MW & is increasing further very rapidly. This scenario was well known to the powers that be at the time of seeking approval for 400 KV Jallandhar – Samba – Amargarh line but the government of the time paid no attention to this & pushed for the line feeding power to Amargarh in the Kashmir Valley. Today the situation is such that availability of construction power to the upcoming prestigious power stations in the area is also a problem. This situation is now being addressed & it’s quite likely that the 132 KV Ramban – Kheleni – Kishtwar line (that was languishing for more than 15 years) might get completed under central sector by the end of next year& it will also cater to the construction power requirements of the Hydel power stations coming up on River Chenab. Another critical transmission line languishing for 15 years is 220 KV Barn – Bishnah line. This line is critical for providing alternate electricity route to areas in Jammu region. In short the NC & other Kashmir based political dispensations always rooted for Kashmir without taking care of the other two regions especially as they derived their political power from Kashmir. Other two regions were nothing but colonies for them. Thus the speech of Amit Shah is to the point & accurate. Corruption of the Kashmir centric regional parties of J&K is very well known to the people of J&K who are adept at having their ears to the ground. The white paper of the NC thus is their method of befooling people through which they have not rebutted the corruption charge of the Home Minister.
(The author is Spokesperson BJP J&K UT).
