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Journalism of Courage
The Congress party8217;s tryst with its alliance partner in J038;K may have reached its end game. The recent stand off with the People8217;s Democratic Party was ostensibly triggered after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad set aside the PDP8217;s decision to seek a change in its legislative party leader and Deputy chief Minister Muzaffar Hussein Beig8217;s portfolios in the ministry. To the utter disbelief of the PDP leadership, Azad insisted on retaining Beig as his minister for finance and planning. The reaction from the PDP leadership 8212; which accuses Beig of cosying up to Azad at the cost of his own party 8212; was swift. After a hurriedly called legislative party meeting, the PDP decided not only to replace Beig as leader in the assembly but also wrote to Azad demanding his withdrawal from the cabinet.
Everyone expected Azad to act on the PDP8217;s demand; many consider it the party8217;s prerogative to choose its leader in the legislature as well as its member in a coalition government. But the initial reaction to the PDP8217;s decision from both Azad and Beig made the stand-off look serious, posing a threat to both the coalition and government.
While the controversy may look like it is settling down for now with the Congress effecting a climbdown, only the naive or those with very short memories will see this as an end to the Congress-PDP bitterness. Its roots lie in the very nature of the coalition.
The conflict between the partners began as soon as the 2002 elections threw up a fractured mandate, making the Mufti-led PDP an essential constituent of any non-National Conference government. Eager to see its leader in the chief minister8217;s chair, the PDP forced the larger partner to join the coalition under Mufti8217;s leadership. After days of feverish parleys, the Congress high command struck a deal with the PDP on a three year rotation of chief ministership. Mufti became chief minister of the new coalition government and the Congress took the deputy chief ministership. But the strains started to show through. The two partners were obviously poles apart in their agenda, politics and interests in parts of the state.
Conscious of upholding a national agenda, the Congress was cautious in dealing with the sensitive issue of Kashmir8217;s future within the Indian Union while the PDP argued for a peace process involving the separatist Hurriyat and the militants in order to fulfill its manifesto promise of the 8220;resolution of Kashmir problem through negotiations as per the aspirations of the Kashmiris8217;8217;. The Congress has traditionally been a Jammu-centric political party in the state with a substantial support base in Ladakh while the PDP came up as a Kashmir-centric group. The Congress has a history of taking an uncompromising stance on J038;K8217;s accession to the Indian Union while the PDP8217;s manifesto proclaims separatist leanings that would give nightmares to any party that calls itself national.
Thus when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was chief minister, the J038;K government8217;s policy was entirely focused on Kashmir politics. It made efforts to push the NDA government to set up confidence building measures with Pakistan, including a ceasefire along the LoC and reopening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. Mufti8217;s government was also softer towards the militants. It launched a welfare campaign for the families of slain militants.
As soon as Azad took over as CM, the emphasis shifted. He spoke solely of development, he vowed to fight militancy to the end. While Mufti referred to the militants as 8220;our boys in jungles8217;8217;, Azad categorically termed all separatist gunmen as terrorists. The PDP had proposed the idea of demilitarisation and self-rule as the solution to the Kashmir problem, openly supporting Musharraf8217;s views. Azad ruled it out, insisting that the future of Kashmir lies within the Indian Union and striking down any proposal that seeks to transcend the Constitution.
Looking back, it is possible to identify the major milestones in the Congress-PDP relationship that has never been smooth. The first rumblings surfaced during the 2004 parliamentary elections, with the Congress and PDP fielding candidates against each other. The grenade attack on April 8, 2004 on a PDP rally in Uri further fuelled the bitterness with Muzaffar Hussein Beig accusing the Congress of instigating the incident. Then on the Amarnath Yatra issue last year, when there was a full-blown feud between Governor S.K. Sinha and the then Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed over the extension of the yatra, several Congress ministers threatened to resign if it was not extended as desired by the governor. Mufti had no option but to fall in line.
In the period leading up to the transfer of power to the Congress in November 2005, the bitterness grew further with Congress legislators opposing the continuance of Mufti beyond the stipulated three year period. In fact, Congress ministers again threatened to resign en masse and camped in New Delhi to persuade the party high command against giving extension to Mufti. The two coalition partners were able to forge a working relationship after the Congress take-over, but not for long. In the recent assembly by-elections in four constituencies, the situation regressed to square one. The local Congress leaders canvassed in favour of PDP8217;s rival, the National Conference; the PDP won only one seat out of the three.
Finally, the sex abuse scandal brought these simmering differences to a head. The Congress accused the PDP of hushing up the scandal when it first surfaced in 2004 even as the PDP continues to insist on the disclosure of the names of VIPs involved in the scam.
Mail the author at muzamiljaleelyahoo.com/ muzamil.jaleelexpressindia.com
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