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Journalism of Courage
On Monday,for the second consecutive day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting to discuss the current unrest in the Valley. With Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also present this time,the resounding message was the same as that at the Cabinet Committee on Security meet earlier: that law and order must be restored before progressive steps are taken to deliver any political or development package. Abdullah said as much at a press conference later. Yet,as the state government takes stock of this weekends escalated violence,it is equally clear that the situation demands steadying leadership,both political and administrative,that Abdullah has so far not shown himself up to.
That steadying presence has been absent this past month,the ability to reassure a population buffeted by street unrest and emergency curbs on the normal rhythms of their lives and also to give purposeful direction to security operations. Abdullahs address on state television on Sunday showed a chief minister unable to resist the collegiate temptation of projecting a period of strife for the people and his administration as a personal test of character and every administrative procedure as a source of personal distress. In Obama-esque we are the change that we seek chatter,he continues to give the impression of a politician in campaign mode,one constantly in need of validation and not a leader who got chief ministership a year-and-a-half ago with effusive,all-round goodwill,in contrast to his predecessors who had to hit the ground running. It is not that he has squandered much of that goodwill. It is that he failed to appreciate the circumstances he inherited a state election that may not have signalled a break from old conflicts but one in which a critical mass has invested themselves in the political process. Fresh from his short but passionate speech in a Lok Sabha trust vote on what it means to be Indian,Abdullah proposed himself as the man to channel that public investment towards something good. However,the casual touch that befits a man proposing himself to greater things can easily be seen to be sloppy when he is in charge and nothings going right.
Abdullah needs to be told that there are folks who will continue to fish in troubled waters because they want to make trouble,and not because its a conspiracy hatched to slight him personally. And that the campaign is long over,and he must begin to be chief ministerial.
