Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo
Politics in India became a victim of double-talk ab initio, right from the day when the reigns of power were handed over to the Indian leaders by the British colonizers. Politicians assumed it as a ‘fundamental right’ for them to speak anything and everything and never be accountable for what they said. False promises, hoodwinking the public opinion, building false political narratives to suit the electoral politics and politicking with the people consistently without fail gave birth, rise and acceptance to double-talk in politics on a perpetual basis.
This culture of public double-talk though was prevalent in all parts of the country yet it groomed and flourished in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir with appeasing nourishment and impunity. The core political narrative in context of Jammu and Kashmir was overwhelmingly based upon the concept of double-talk and Abdullahs and their party graduated in the art very well thus taking people of the state for a ride always.
What followed was the spread of this menace to the other political parties active in the state as well without any regard for accountability and transparency in the eyes of the people of the state. It created huge impact on the overall political scenario thus leading the other activities like social, economic, cultural and administrative to adopt this pseudo culture on a permanent basis.
The parliamentary actions of August 5-6, in 2019 in context of Jammu and Kashmir shook the whole edifice of the culture of double-talk in politics and public life. It gave a jolt to the entire thinking and political narrative of the past seven decades nullifying the premises of public debate on Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir centric political class in the state was taken aback by the swift and sudden actions of the parliament and it left them virtually high and dry.
In fact it took away from them their fundamental ground of political edifice on which they used to grind their “political masala” all along. It was done by them to delude the public opinion, misguide their own partymen, blackmail the Indian state, lure the top politicians in Delhi over ‘political wazwaan’ to get largesse of choice and cause huge damage to the promise of democracy & constitutional propriety in the eyes of public at large.
The recent statements emanating from various quarters within the valley and outside the valley by the bigwigs of the custodians of previous Kashmir political narrative speak volumes about the frustration galore. It thus needs to be clarified that the people in Jammu and Kashmir have woken up and want answers and details from the political leaders who remained in power in the erstwhile state for the long seven decades post 1947.
The people in Jammu & Kashmir demand from the leaders of NC, PDP & Congress to give their report card of the last seven decades than raising the issues of development and economic slowdown now. The most recent statements of NC president Farooq Abdullah and the other leaders signatory to the so-called Gupkar declaration in which they said that ‘the decisions taken on August 5 last year had stopped the economic progress of the state and wanted the centre to reverse the decisions taken on the basis of numbers in the parliament’ is enough to showcase their frustration and psychological defeat.
The claim made by these leaders that ‘Until recently feted for topping various human development indices, the development scenario in J-K currently is very depressing’ is worth being contested on various grounds. The revelations made by the former Governor, the office of the current CAG and the Chief Secretary of the UT about the huge irregularities and financial scams are enough to book these leaders under various provisions of law for siphoning out public exchequer’s money, stopping and delaying genuine development for which economic packages were announced and sanctioned by the centre and denigrating financial institutions by making them party to the huge frauds, scams and piling up of NPAs.
It is the most unfortunate situation for these leaders that on the one hand they swear by democracy and constitution of India and on the other hand they claim that the law passed by the Parliament with an overwhelming majority was ‘unconstitutional, immoral and unethical’. While they have pinned hope in the honourable Supreme court of India by approaching it to repeal the August 5 decisions, they also make it sure to politicise the issues which are matters subjudice practically; they are doing this only to secure some space in the political mainstream again. The statement that ‘the August 5 decisions were taken to denigrate them in the eyes of the public’ is an open admission of guilt and endorsement of public anger against them. People want straight answers from them as soon as possible, this these leaders know and know very well.
The decision to abolish Article 370/35A has opened new vista for economic development of the UT of J&K, which has been ranking on number one in the list of corrupt states for the last several decades, courtesy, the perpetual rule of the parties like, NC, PDP & Congress in the erstwhile J&K state.
It needs to be reiterated that the decisions of August 5-6, 2019 are irreversible and are permanent in nature and character. The facade of special status and creation of a ‘state within a state’ is a thing of past. The parliament has established the fact that it is sovereign and supreme and its decisions can’t be influenced by the political maneuvering or emotional blackmail in the garb of appeasement and vote bank politics.
The rhetoric that ‘peace and development can’t come to the UT of J&K unless the August 5 decisions are reversed’ is tantamount to threatening, blackmail and justification of terrorism. While peace is incidental to the elimination of terrorism in the state, the neutralization of terrorism is also prelude to the establishment of peace. Development is a perpetual and ongoing process and has a contineous flow irrespective of who is in the saddle.
It needs to be recalled that terrorism in J&K is the “gift” of the National Conference rule from 1977 onwards and with the Congress handshake with effect from 1987 when seeds of radicalism and Islamic fundamentalism in the state were allowed to grow into thorny bushes of terror and terrorism.
Farooq Abdullah has yet to come clean on his statement that ‘he sent boys to Pakistan occupied Kashmir to get training there’. He is on record to have done so while he was incharge of the government in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir from 1987-90. His sudden exit in January 1990 was simply an abdication of duties and responsibilities as the head of the state and negation of oath that he took while taking over the reigns in 1987.
The distribution of weapons seized from the terrorists post 1987 to the NC leaders and workers is another dimension of the story and these weapons remained unaccounted for till date. People might not have that sharp a memory but technology improves it for them. The documentary proof, newspaper cuttings, recordings and photographs don’t lie and clearly suggest that in case one needs to establish the facts about the founding of the Kashmir Liberation Front, the initial terror outfit, the evidences are available, stark and crude.
The glaring example of double-talk in public life remains to give a call for “Bharat Mata ki Jai” on the one hand and to call for “Chinese subjugation” on the other hand. The irony is that both the statements are made in the capital of the country, New Delhi, and are done for public consumption consciously and with a purpose.
Howsoever smart leader one might be, time doesn’t wait for anyone. The fact of the matter is that it is neither 1947 nor 1987, it is 2020. An entirely new generation has taken over almost in all the fields and in the political field as well. There are brittle chances of public loot at the top, political narrative has changed globally, nationally and regionally, younger generations are more interested in transparency and accountability which have the support of the digital revolution under an ideal Prime Minister, and there are very less takers, now, for the age old double-talk games in the public domain.
To put it simple, the age of political double-talk is over, let our ‘pastmasters’ in this game also understand it for good. Their age, experience and immediate colleagues need to tell them this fact of time candidly and clearly. In order to be precise, it is now or never for all concerned.
(Feedback: ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)
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